Story Book Nightmare
by Lizzy London
Summary: Chapter 16 is finally up! Thank you baby Jesus, i finally finished it. I finally got that chapter done, and you lovelies finally get another chapter, so, yeah! Read and Review, peas and turkey!
1. Chapter 1

Story book nightmare

Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Keepers Series. I love the series, wish the series would keep going. I do **_not _**own the Kingdom Keepers stories, characters, or anything in here I use. The only thing I came up with are the new characters. Not the ones from the real books.

Chapter One: Auditions

My name is Alei. Well, actually it's Alison, but how chicky doo da is that name? _So_ not me.

I'd lived in Orlando Florida my entire life. Not kidding. But my family is reasonably wealthy, so we go all over the world.

I have a sister, who absolutely gets on my nerves. She's my parent's precious pride and joy, who plans on being either a lawyer, doctor, astronaut, a combination of two, or all three.

She's older than me by fifteen months, and acts like its fifteen years.

I'm fourteen, she's fifteen. She gets the modeling careers for European fashion companies. They say to her, but directed at me, _"Oh, this is your sister? She's nice." _This basically means in stylist, "She's got no look, got no walk, no talk; she's barely tolerable in my studio._ Get her out of here, Francesca!" _

Francesca versus Alei. Of course. The curly haired, blue eyed blond versus her younger less prettier straight haired, brunette green eyed sister.

The one sanctuary I had was Disney World. Call it childish all you want, but I don't just go there for the rides and being alone without being alone. I go because of the crowds and the scenes. If you ever just stop and look at the crowds, you can find all the families are similar. The aggravated parents, with the bored-out-of-their--mind teenagers, then the I-want-to-ride-every-ride-and-get-everything-I-want little children. I sometimes draw the families as they walk by. Nice, small, just having fun families, and then the large arguing about what to do next families. The kind of families who make vacation work.

I found out about the newest DHI system from Francesca. She was going to try out because being famous is another life long dream of hers. Selfish, selfish, selfish.

Francesca dragged me along with her to her audition. She uses me to somehow make herself more appealing to the judges. It's a trick that makes them think, _Wow, look at this amazingly beautiful girl standing next to this somewhat attractive girl. She looks ten times better, she's amazing! Let's hire her!_

And then, she's got her face plastered over something new.

The audition was held in community center. There were hundreds of people, trying out like they would for a certain singing show that promises you a record deal.

She dragged me in and I sat back, watching as she read her lines way to preppy. The new DHI system would have seven new characters, one dedicated for each land. She was itching towards fantasy land so she could play a fairy princess. Blech.

The judges were all Imagineers. There were four of them. Two guys and two girls. Three of them watched her. Both the guys and a really puffy looking girl. The other girl had black hair and purple highlights. Her right eyebrow was pierced and I could see from her black t-shirt that she had a Gothic Tinkerbell tattoo on her left shoulder. Cool.

When Francesca was done, she smirked all pretty like and then listened to their comments. Mostly good, until the Goth imaginer spoke up.

"I'm sorry and all, little sister, but I just don't like you. You seem like the frilly frou-frou type who's just aiming towards playing fair godmother in fantasy land. We need someone that can play any land she assigned, and you just suit one."

The other three considered her comments and then suddenly they were agreeing and saying how they couldn't use someone who couldn't adapt.

She'd gone from good chances in to no chance at all. Ha.

She turned bright red and I could her eyes watering just a little bit. On our way out, the Goth lady called out, "Hey, you! Brunette! Blue t-shirt!"

I turned to look at her. "Yes?"

"Didn't you sign up?"

I shook my head. "She's the family spotlight. I'd be like the family fish speaking for a dog biscuit."

She shrugged. "You can always train goldfish."

It didn't sound possible, but if she said so.

"Pick up a script, and read me some lines." The insisted.

The other girl rolled her eyes. "Uh, Char, she didn't sign up. There's hundreds of kids waiting and you're letting someone who didn't sign up audition."

"What does one more audition do to you, Tessa? Break a nail?" She mocked.

The girl named Tessa _harrumph_-ed and sat back in her seat.

I picked up a script and the first page was Frontier land. I saw myself decked out in green and silver for the Haunted mansion with my hair pulled back and my face looking waxy. Awesome.

I read aloud descriptions of the rides, their stories, and safety instructions.

The last ride I finished in the entire script was from Liberty Square, the _Haunted Mansion_. I used this creepy, dark voice and when I finished they were all smiling.

"That was really good." Char said. "I like you. Don't know why, but I do.

I smiled. The other three said I was good by altering my voice depending on the land and attraction. Like for _Pirates of the Caribbean_, I used this pirate-y cackling voice. For the _Aladdin ride_, I faked a Middle Eastern accent. It was really sad, but it worked out well.

A month and a half later, I was sitting in sweat pants and a t-shirt eating reheated Chinese food when a letter came. It was stamped with the symbol of the Imagineers and it said:

_Dear Allison Beuchenn_

_We are pleased to tell you that you have been picked out of 829 children to be a new DHI for the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resorts, Lake Buena Vista Florida. You have also been selected to be the DHI of Liberty Square, with the occasional appearance in Frontier land, since Liberty Square is one of the smaller lands._

_In about five months, you will start filming for Walt Disney Worlds Animal Kingdom. Details are few at this time, but we thank you for auditioning for the role as a DHI._

_Lifetime passes have been sent for you and yours to enjoy unlimited Disney access._

_You have also been sent a DHI card, to give you discounts in any store in the resort. This is for you and you only. May we suggest in the future you visit the DHI accessory shop? This is a DHI only store, and its contents may be desired in the future. The current DHI's come here for any thing they may need. Any questions regarding the store, contact our Imagineer Wayne._

_Filming for the new DHI system is June 12 at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Arrive precisely by seven thirty. You can schedule for a shuttle to pick you up, or you may drive to the gate and use your DHI card for access. You will report to costuming, then makeup, and then will be filmed in front of a green screen._

_Be prompt, as this is a once in a lifetime opportunity._

_Don't be alarmed if there may be any side affects, just buy the products and you'll be fine. Pleasant dreams,_

_The Disney Imagineers. See you on set!_

Side affects? What could possibly be a side affect of getting filmed? There's nothing dangerous about that… is there?

School was fresh out. Praise God. The only bad thing about that meant (da da dum-dum) was the sweltering summer heat. June 12 brought blue skies, no clouds, pure sunshine and 97% humidity out of 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Joy oh joy. I had pulled my hair up high on my head in a bun. I was wearing cotton knee lenght shorts. If someone were to look up those shorts at the proper angle they'd be able to see my undies. Also, I wore a white cotton tank top. I was lucky to be carrying a nude color strapless bra for those days when my white cotton t-shirts were in desperate need.

I walked up to the gate where a crowd had formed. A somewhat large woman with two women sighed when I passed her. I looked back at her and held up my pass. "Sorry to skip you, ma'am. I've got pure Disney Business."

"Not a problem, sweetie." She said after a moment. "I had some people cut me earlier. The tourist type. Thinks the rides will be gone by the time the gates open. Had to get here earlier for the kids." She motioned to her two children.

"I understand perfectly, ma'am." I said.

I walked up to the gate and the security guard frowned at me. I held up my pass. "I'm here for the filming." I said in a hushed tone. "Fancy new DHI filing?"

The guy nodded and motioned me over to a VIP only gate. He opened it so I had to suck it in to get in. He closed it locked it and motioned me over to a silver go cart with a man reading a magazine. It had the DHI logo on it.

"Hi, going to the DHI set? You driving?" I asked.

"I am not." The man put down the magazine. He actually looked like... fifteen or maybe sixteen. God knew how tall the guy was. She could tell he would be a skyscraper due to his long legs placed firmly on the concrete next to the go-cart.

"You look like you could." I said.

"I am not allowed by Walt Dinsey World to drive this go-cart."

"Oh. Well, fine then." I looked him over. Any _other _girl would probably scream at the time of their lungs anf fling themselves to the ground and worship him. I, on the other and much more dignified hand, settled for gluing my jaw shut.

The guy looked like he could be some kind of teenage God of some sort. I usually was friends with guys, so I was strong in the gorgeous boy resisting department. You couldn't make me break when it came to guys. A lot of people (cough-cough-girls-cough-cough) thought I was les. I have nothing aginst them, but I'm not one of them, nor will I ever be. I like guys. I was working not to lose my jaw with the one in front of me. Just because I didn't show emotions to boys, didn't mean I didn't adore certain ones in my brain.

"My name is Alei." I said resisting the urge to flip my hair back flirtasiously. I saw girls from school and I saw Francesca flick her hair back now and again with the jocks.

"My name is Devlin." He held out his hand. By that point, if I was the common girl (which I am not) I would have screeched and fainted.

The name Devlin... I thought that on any other guy it would have been just plain _geeky _but on him... it was gorgeous.

"Gailic?"

"Old Irish." He said.

I heard a tint of an Irish accent.

"Are you from Ireland?" I asked out of curiosity.

"I was born in Jacksonville. I was raised in Sarasota. Moved here a few years ago." He said.

If he'd been born and rasied in Florida, what was up with the Irish accent?

The guy was a mind reader. "My mother's from Dublin. Never got ride of her accent, and I was home schooled up until I was thirteen. I was raised under an Irish accent, I'm going to have one. But don't worry, I won't start speaking Gaelic to you. I don't have a hold on the pronunciations."

I smiled. "I never expected you to start speaking Gaelic..."

"You didn't?"

"No..." I said. I was just _dying _to flip my hair.

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**First chapter done, YAY! So, review? Peas and Turkey.**

**March 6 2010: I would really like it if you qent on to read Chapters Two and Three, so don't stop here, just keep readin. Scroll up to the top. See that scroll-y thingy on th side? Just move that to the top of the page. Hit either the arrow or the chapter list button thing. Go on to my super short chapter 2, and after that, move on to the super short chapter three. Don't be shy, the story doesn't bite. I just want those reviews. Love the review button, people! Just keep the feedback polite. Peas and Turkey**

**Just the update to keep the story up.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 for Storybook Nightmare

I was _way _uncomfortable. The stretchy green tights were giving me a wedgie- front to back. Ouch- add the thin little silver plates on every joint in my body that can be tracked, and I'm uncomfortable. I tried to suck it up, and the only thing they did was after every shooting for the rides, they'd switch my hair and makeup to something to fit the next ride. My favorites were Haunted mansion, Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain Railroad. Haunted Mansion placed in first. Pulled my hair back, giving me the instant botox-ified look. They made my skin all waxy and deep dark shadows under my eyes. They'd add affects later on. Most of it would be in black and white, with the occasional flicker of grainy color. I loved it.

Splash Mountain was my second favorite. They made me look all old-timey and stuff. They added hair extensions the same color as my actual hair, braided it, and put it over my shoulder and then the unexpected part was there was two parts to the Splash Mountain DHI. Before, I'm all nice and dry. Afterwards, came the unexpected part. The primary Frontier Land girl was some German girl name Bernadine, and we were working together on the two parts. The last part, just before they started filming us, they poured water down on us in a downpour. We shrieked and the second afterwards, started filming. We took that as a sign and started reciting our lines. It added to the affect, as if we'd been there the entire time. Later, we saw they'd put us in plaid dresses down to our ankles. It looked as if we'd been filmed with the dresses on. It showed us seconds after getting soaked. We still had utterly surprised looks on our faces and we were flicking and spitting water out. Then, it cut to us leaning up, laughing and saying our lines when I knew for a fact we'd stared at each other and then the camera for a few moments before shaking our heads and then starting up our lines.

Thunder Mountain was fun. They took out the extensions, braided my natural hair into two little braids, smudged some dirt on my face, plopped a straw hat on my face and told me to speak with a country accent from the Wild West, like the old man in the original ride introduction. They'd still have him- after a video presentation in the new water-proof trains with built in screens. They'd put us with a gold mine behind us and they gave us like the hammer things. It was so much fun. Bernadine and I became friends right away.

Bernadine was my age, my height and just a bit heavier than me. She wasn't fat, not even over weight. The doctors said she was average, but medical average is social obesity.

She has sandy blonde hair with light brown streaks. She said she'd been born in Munich, Germany but she'd come to America before she'd learned to talk, so she could speak German and English because only her parents and one aunt lived in America. Everyone else had to be spoken to in German. She spoke with perfect accent in either language. She'd proved this to me by calling her Aunt Bernese about the DHI program and of course, Her Tante was pleased.

Bernadine smiled and hung up her phone and cleared her throat, switching her brain back to English form.

"So… back to work now?

Bernadine and I watched as they filmed a pixie like girl and we watched the three boys drool all over her. She had caramel colored skin and dark long brownish black hair. I could tell, just by looking at her, she had a white parent and a black parent. She seemed to be playing Fantasy Land- _shocker. _

She finished up the script and sighed. She scowled at herself in the mirror and tried wiping off the sparkles they'd added for a sparkleier affect. A frined of mine once said _there is no such thing as too much sparkles. _I thought she was right, but when it's sprayed, coated and plastered by the layers onto your skin, you're reaching the county line.

The closer she got, I realized, she wasn't such a pixie. She pulled out a wire-bristled brush and yanked it mercilessly through her hair. Ow.

"Hey." She said in a sweet voice. "My name is Nadeah. I am primary for Fantasy Land."

Something about her voice. Just the hint of an accent. Controllable when needed, but beautiful. Her grammar wasn't awkward, so obviously she'd been speaking English for a long time.

"I'm Alei." I introduced myself.

"I'm Bernadine."

We all shook hands.

"What are you primary for, Alei?" Nadeah asked me.

"I'm primary for Liberty Square and Secondary on Frontier Land." I told her.

She smiled. Her teeth were slightly crooked, but as a friend of mine once said, real girls aren't perfect and perfect girls aren't real.

We glanced over and asides from Devlin, there were two other guys. One was freakishly tall and the other was on the how should we put this, um.... _geeky_ side. And that was putting it lightly. He was average height, average build and had the modern day long boy hair. But he had thick glasses and he stood shyly away from the other guys shuffling his feet. Poor guy. The Freakishly large one looked like some kind of dream. I happened to notice almost none of us were of the same ethnicity. We had a German, a American-born Irish boy, an American-born girl of deutch, scottish, french, and Chzech ancestors (that'd be me), a Russian(?) girl, an unidentifiable boy that was clearly not Caucasian, but not anything I could reconize, and then the Native American-y looking boy. We all made quite the crew. Now... what were the other boy's names?

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**Author's note: Just the update to keep the story up. **

**Oh, I'm going to enjoy this. Let's all thank my server for being nice long enough to let me upload the newxt chapter. All together now: "Thanks you server."**

**Okay, I'm kinda stuck on names for the two mystery boys. Offer me some names? Review, reveiw, review people! Five (or more-hint, hint-) get another chapter. Maybe two chapters in one evening! Isn't that a dream? Review! Peas and turkey! (That's my way of saying please and thank you.) :)**

**Don't forget to offer me names for our gorgeous Native American boy, and our ethnicity mystery geek.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, don't get mad, but I wasn't patient enough for all of you to suggest a name for my guy characters. Can I help it if my brain keeps coming up with awesome ideas for this story (one chapter might include a possesed Stitch or something. :] )? My brains on overdrive here people! I wasn't going to sit on my couch twiddling my thumbs whistling while you all considered a name to suggest. So I do what I do best: I research! They call them baby names, but I think of them as names to give to my characters. I like giving my characters names with flare and back ground. I'm not going to go with Bob or Geroge. My names must have meaning! Just to add on to this, I'm not very patient all together. And I'm very impatient for you to stop reading this and read this next chapter! Work your brains! Why are you still reading this note? Stop, I say, STOP, get to the story!**

***disclaimer* I wish I could claim this as my own, but I can't. (--:'[-- ) All of the original characters and stories belong to the original author.**

**Enjoy- peas and turkey from Lizzy.**

_**March 6, 2010- I'm going to let you all slide on the no five reviews for Chapter two, bu I just can't stare at my computer waiting for something to happen. I HAVE TO UPDATE LIKE I NEED AIR TO BREATHE!**_

_**Enjoy. Don't froget to review. I accept logged in and anonymous, but I only accept anonymous if they are nice and polite. And if it's critical, be polite. Remember, I'm not doing this all the time, I want those five reviews. I mean it. ^-^**_

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The Native American boy's name was Amaro Hohots Cheyden. He said together his first and middle name meant "Strong like a bear"

Bernadine laughed, because that's what her name meant in German, except female version.

Nadeah went on to explain her name meant Hope in Russian. I was right! Haha, one point for Alei.

Devlin explained that his name meant fierce or strong or something like that.

Oh, sure they all had the unique, meaningful names. Mine was so common, not only that. It meant: _Noble_. It made me feel like a snobby priss. And if you haven't figured this out by now, I'll remind you: I am _so _not a snobby priss. Or, you know, I try not to.

Filming was done, and all of our parents had decided to let us stay for the day. We were all sitting around a table, eating classic disney food: huge chicken fingers, french fries, soda and a mickey mouse ear shaped cookies.

The geeky guy's name was Ammon, his grandparents live Cairo, Egypt (I knew it was probably somewhere over there). He didn't tell us what his name meant, but something about it and the way he looked saying it... I knew it meant something greater than our names. Secrets, secrets, Alei no likey.

We all kind of found it funny that in a few weeks, we wouldn't be able to walk down the sidewalk without someone screaming, "OHMIGOSH!!! IT'S (--enter DHI name _here--) _GET THEIR AUTOGRAPH!!" And then we'd be chased by hundreds and hundreds of people screaming our name. Woo.

Later that night, I pulled on my pale purple yoga pants and my white t-shirt. I looked in my bathroom mirror, grabbed the toothpaste and dabbed a little on my newest found breakout. Most people went, "Toothpase? What the heck?" Toothpaste has some kind of acid (baking soda, I _think) _in it that makes the pimples throw up a white flag and scream, "I SURRENDER!!!! NO MORE ACID-Y TOOTHPASTE, I BEG OF YOU!"

Works like a charm.

I crawled into bed and set my alarm for the morning. I felt a little odd about going to bed, but I was getting tired. I switched off my Bar Harbor Rootbeer bottle lamp- custom made, thank you very much- punched my pillow a few times, settled into bed and closed my eyes.

I woke up without even opening my eyes. That was weird. No dreams last night. And I felt like I'd just crawled into bed. No way was it already six thirty. It couldn't be. Could it?

I opened my eyes and I screeched like a rabid banshee on steroids. I was on the ground, in the dirt, in a cemetary, looking at some kind of face poking out a tomb stone.

I jumped up, still screaming like Francesca would. I started to run, but I collided with a short fence, and went down, hands, face and all. I threw my hands out and instead of more ground, found concrete. I stood up and found myself under a awning. I looked around and gasped.

No. Way.

I was _not _here. I couldn't be. I could not be at the Haunted Mansion. There was just no way! None! And more so, there was no way I could be in Disney World. After hours!

I started running, because I was scared. How did I get here? What was going on? Where the freaking hell was I???? Well, I knew the answer, but you know, still... what the freaking hell????

I just kept running, and found every thing right where it should have been. I passed the Hall of Presidents, I passed the shops and restraunts. I could see the docked steam boat, and as I kept running, I could see Cinderella's castle. I moved into Frontier land, panting. I saw some kind of glowing shape coming straight for me. I figured I'd go through it, but right before impact, both me and the shape squealed and collided.

We both went down and I came face to face with Bernadine. She was wearing mint green silk pajamas with Goofy in pajamas. Very theme apropriate. Her long hair was braided and she was staring at me like I had appeared from thin air. I also happened to notice Bernadine was glowing and slightly transparent... almost like a hologram. But I'd run smack into her, so she was really there.

"Bernadine?"

"Alei?"

"Wh-what- what are you doing here?" She asked me.

"I don't know... What are _you _doing here?" I asked her.

"_I _don't know, Alei. I just popped up here after I went to bed. Why are you glowing?" She asked me.

"I'm glowing? You're the one who's glowing!" I said incredulously.

"I am?" She said as if she could believe what I jsut told her. We sat there looking at each other for about two seconds before scramlbing up and making a beeline for the river. We both looked in and sure enough... we were both glowing.

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***Note Note from Lizzy**

**So, how'd you guys like it? I'm sorry it's so short, but it's good right? FYI- The toothpaste trick from earlier in the chapter actually works!!! I use it on my own acne twice a day. I've only been doing it for like, two days, but already my face is a thousand times less acne-ey then it was! Haha! Thank you toothpaste!**

**Y'all know the drill. Five reviews, five reviews. Signed in or anynomous. I really want to upload the next chapter so, chop chop! Make it good! Anonymous or singed it! Make your pick! Chapter four coming soon**

**Update to keep story up.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer (I haven't done this in a few chapters. Did I do it last chapter? I don't remember) I don't own the Kingdom Keepers. Wish I did. Wish I could. But, I cant (put in sad face here). It all belongs to Ridley. Except my characters. I made them. He can take everything OTHER than the characters I came up with. **

**In this Chapter I introduce Ridley Pearson's characters, so, yay and stuff.**

**Oooh!!! Just for my friends and readers, I discovered this on Amazon- via Wikipedia- that Kingdom Keepers III will be released April 6 of this year!!!!! I hope this does't end the series though since it takes place in MGM (Yes, yes I know it's "Hollywood Studios" now, but I was raised my entire life with it being called MGM. I'm not switching it around now, no sir.**

**Read and Review, peas and turkey. I luv you for ever! ^~^**

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It all felt surreal. I wasn't in Disney World, I wasn't in the Magic Kingdom, I wasn't here with Bernadine in her silk Goofy PJ's, I wasn't glowing, and I was not- repeat, **not, **transparent.

How? How was this possible? It's not. It just isn't right. Human people don't go to bed, only to wake up and find themselves as glowing transparent things in the freaking Magic Kingdom! How does something completely solid with insides go to something see through?!

That's just it!!! They **can't **so they shouldn't be able to to. But they do. It's like the whole Ghost thing, but even that has a simple explenation. They shouldn't come back as Ghosts, but they do because their trapped or they feel incomplete or something. There's nothing spiritual about popping up in Dinsey World as a hologram!!!

Bernadine was the first to move. "So... what now?" She asked me brushing some of her hair back.

I shrugged. I felt solid, but it was weird to see teh ground through my knees. "Could we be the only ones?" I whispered, feeling like whiserping was appropriate.

"We aren't the only DHIs. Should we be the only... these whatever?" She asked me.

"Yes? No? Maybe?" She suggested.

So we got up and walked our way out of Frontier Land into Adventure Land. We heard excsive cursing comig from Tarzans tree house. We both watched as a huge shadow appeared

"Oh, my..." Bernadine muttered before the shadow erupted in screaming and lunged at us from the top of Tarzan's tree house.

We both screamed like wild people, watching as it came at us. It tackled us to the ground and we wiggled and squirmed.

"Get... the...heck... off... of... _me!_" I pushed at it and it rolled to it's side and I realized it was a guy. About two or three years older. In the dim lighting I could see he was black and had dreads for hair. He was wearing Jeans and he didn't have a shirt.

He studied us. I noticed he was glowing like us and the ground underneath him was visible.

He was a DHI, and now I reconized him. The older DHIs had gone through the same thing as us? No kidding? Then we weren't alone.

"Who are you?" He asked. "Are you Overtakers, because if you are I'll kick your-"

"We're DHI's." Bernadine explained. "I'm Bernadine. I'm Primary for Frontier Land."

"I'm Alei, primary for Liberty Square, secondary for Frontier Land." I explained to this big black guy.

"I'm Maybeck. They made me 'primary' for Adventure Land. I'm one of the two being used for Magic Kingdom for seperate lands."

"What's your last name?" Bernadine asked him.

"That is my last name." He told us.

"Then what's your first name?" I asked him.

"None of your business." He snapped.

I reconized Maybeck now. Jeeze, he always seemed so polite. Either Maybeck was tired, or he was just a grouch. Ugh, I **_hated_** dealing with guys that had attitude issues.

We walked out of Adventure Land. We passed by the Tiki Room. I stopped, peeked in and looked in at the frozen animatronics. I saw a few parrots, a Tucan (I only knew a Tucan because my favortie movie when I was little was George of the Jungle, and "Tuki Tuki!" was my first senetence and my first and seconds words.) I also aw a bat. I couldn't remember if there was a bat in the tiki room, but just as I was about to walk away, the bat and like, ten more appeard out of nowhere with their heads turned towards me. All of their eyes glowed red and I thought I heard them shrieking at me. I opened my mouth to scream for Bernadine and Maybeck but all of the bats came flying at me, red eyes glowing like fireballs, shrieks piercing the air like knives. The world went dark and I found myself falling with bats tangled in ym hair. I shut my eyes tight, hoping the bats would just disapear. The screeching stopped and I felt like I had woken up from a dream. I was standing up straight, my hair was still pulled back neatly and I was peering into the Tiki room. I looked for the bat, but I saw nothing.

Maybeck and Bernadine were no farther in front of me than they had been when I originally walked up to the Tiki room. Maybeck turned around and walked back to me. "Well? What are you waiting for? Prince Charming?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "Bats. I... I think I was attacked by bats."

He had a worried look on his face but I could see he tried composing it. "You're crazy, Alei

I saw another glowing figure sitting on a park bench. He was wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms plasterd with Scoobie Doo.

"Finn?" Maybeck shouted.

The guy turned his head and barely rasied an eyebrow. "Hey, Maybeck."

"What up with the visits?" Maybeck mumbled. "I thought this was over and done with. I was hoping I could go back to sleeping like regular people."

"Apparently it's not done with. Anyone seen Wayne, recently? I checked the fire house and... and they are not Willa and Charlene." Finn said, noticing us for the first time.

"Finn, this is Alei and Bern- Bernie- Berna-?"

"Bernadine." Bernadine offered him.

"Yeah, that." Maybeck pointed at us.

"Hi." I said. It would be impossible not to reconize him if you went to Disney World often. I did all the time, so I knew his face like the back of my hand. He was the only guy I could drool over that looked like he was there, but not notice me staring. It was harder now, because this was Finn Whitman in the flesh. Not the walk-through light hologram.

"Hi." Finn said giving me a nodd. I had to fight back my girlish squeal-y giggle. I did it mentally, screaming (mentally) at the top of my lungs _Ohmigosh, Finn Whitman told me "Hi." !!!!!!!!!!!_

We heard a high pitched shriek and I could see a caramel skin-tone girl bee lining it out of Frontier Land, screaming something I did not understand.

She was wearing a long purple and yellow and green hand-made night gown. It was partialy see throguh, so underneath was a pink knee lenght cotton dress. Her dark black borwn hair was braided and pulled into a bun. She tripped and stumbled but kept going.

"Who's that?" Finn asked.

"I don't know. She looks like Willa... but I'm pretty sure Willa only speaks English. And if she does speak another language, it's Italian. That ain't Italian." Maybeck said as we watched her scream her way towards us.

She was about to run right past us when Maybeck reached out, grabbed her and held her a good two feet in the air. She kicked, screamed and flailed her arms. I realized it was a panicking Nadeah.

"Nadeah!" I yelled at her and pinched her arm when it nearly slapped me.

She stopped screaming and squirming and looked down at me and when she spoke to me, her Russian Accent was out of control.

"Alei? I am where? We are where?" She sobbed.

"Nadeah, calm down. We're in the Magic Kingdom."

"Kingdom of Magic." She breathed. "Just Kingdom of Magic." She muttered to herself in Russian, then repeated it. Probably the same thing.

"Who knows what language that is?" Maybeck asked.

"It's Russian." Bernadine told him. "Nadeah was born in Russia."

Nadeah said something, took a deep breath and said with a controlled accent, "Put me down... _please_?"

"That I can understand." Maybeck said and putting her down.

She brushed her hair back and sighed. Then she realized that this wasn't right. "Alei? How'd we get here?" She asked me, her eyes wide with panic again.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Do you know?" I asked Finn and Maybeck.

"Uh..." Maybeck scratched behind his ear clearing his throat.

"Yeah, we did. It's been going on since we were fourteen." Finn answered my question. "It's been going on since _we _were fourteen. It's the Overtakers. You've heard of them?"

"No." Nadeah shook her head.

"_Nyet_." Bernadine said.

"Uh-uh." I shook my head after considering it.

"Villains. Disney Villains." Said a girl appearing out fo nowhere wearing red sweat pants and a long sleeved gray t-shirt. Her long black hair was pulled into a braid, brushing her back. Her eyes were squinted, like she couldn't quite see. "Lead by Chernabog. Second in command... Maleficent."

"Who?" Bernadine and Nadeah asked at the same time.

"Chernabog... the baddest villain of the entire flock. He played the big, bat-like demon in _Fantasia. _Scary. Sounds like some innocent little thing. I always pictured him as a hairy thing, then we met him... not some harry thing. Big, black as night, wings, red eyes. The demon shuh-bang." The girl explained.

"Willa." Maybeck said nodding towards her.

"Terry." Willa muttered at him.

Maybeck scowled and muttered nonsense under his breath.

"So... explain all of this to us. We need it all if we're to what... help you defeat the returned Chernabog?" I asked.

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**CLIFF HANGER!!!!!**

**I know, I know it's UBER short, but you know what, maybe if I get more reviews faster, I'll make longer chapters faster. I took y'all _ days to give me five reviews. puh-theh-tick. I'm not being mean, but you guys hurt my feelings with not giving me more reviews. Five! Five! I only ask for five reviews. It's not even a sacrafice. And I know there's a bunch of lazy bones out there that think _nah, I don't want to leave a review, cause I don't feel like it. Someone else will, and I'll return when she puts up more chapters. _Think about it this way: You leave me a review, I put up new chapter. You want a new chapter? Leave a stinkin review! Peas?**

**Peas and Turkey to all the people out their who actually leave me a review. I love you guys. (:D) yu other people who don't leave reviews. I like you, but I don't love you. I'll love you if you leave a reveiw. You want my love, I want your reviews. I will not be moved on this. Not four, not three... FIVE!!!!! 5, 5, 5, 5, 5!!!!!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alrighty then. Chapter Five already. I was hoping to upload this faster, but you know, internet goes down, the speed of how fast I get reviews, yada, yada. **

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The girl with the long braided hair sighed and looked around and then glanced at Finn and Maybeck.

"Where's Charlene and Philby?" She asked.

"Oh sure, call _Dell _by his last name, but you can't make the exception for me." Maybeck muttered.

"I like Philby. I however, don't like you." Willa smirked.

Maybeck rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me? Question? Answer? Please?" I asked.

"Right... defeating Chernabog? We haven't _quite_ figured that out yet." Finn explained to us.

"You've done it before though!" Nadeah protested.

"We _thought _we did. Apparently, we didn't. So stop you're nagging." Maybeck muttered.

Willa sent him an eyeroll and then turned her attnetion back on us. "Are there any others who might pop up?" She asked.

"Yes. There is the boys." Nadeah reminded us. "There is Ammon." I happened to notice a slight twinkle in her eye when she said his name. _Uh Oh_ I thought. _Nadeah's crushing on the Geek. Aww... Geek Charming!!!!_

"Then there's Amaro. I think we'll know when he shows up." Bernadine snickered. She looked off towards Tomorrow Land, where Amaro was Primary. I had a feeling Bernadine had an eye for Amaro.

"Anyone else?" Finn asked me.

"Devlin." I said. "He's primary in Main Street. Shouldn't he be popping up soon?" I asked, anxious to see, just what Devlin slept in. Call it creepy, but...

"It depends on when he goes to sleep. You may not see him at all tonight." Finn said.

"Why?" I asked. "He's got to go to bed eventually. Doesn't he?"

"Do you want to be here all night, and wake up exhausted?"

"No."

"Makes perfect sense. There's this button we have. I press the button, we all wake up in our beds, perfectly human and then when we go back to sleep, we have dreams instead of coming here." Willa explained. "We get our eight hours of sleep, we wake up, we eat breakfast, we go to school, have totally normal lives, then we go home, eat dinner, bathe and go to bed, then we wake up to kick some Overtaker butt."

"Did you all do this?" Bernadine ased the in fascination.

"Yup." Finn asked. "Want to go back home then?"

"Not, quite yet." Maybeck said. "Jelly grounded me, went to bed without supper. I need to grab a burger."

Bernadine, Nadeah and I gave him similar looks. The one that say: _You want to grab a burger at this time of night when we should all be out like a lamp, dreaming of marshmallows and drooling on our pillows? Are you insane?_

He looked at us and shrugged. "What, I'm hungry."

"Why'd Jelly ground you?" Finn asked.

Maybeck shrugged. "I was holding cigarettes for a friend, she thought they were mine. Grounded me big time."

Willa snorted. "Oldest trick in the book, Terry. You really tried the whole 'there my friends' thing? Fail, Terry. Fail."

"I did not _try_ any tricks, _Isabella. __They really were my friends." Maybeck insisted. "I have no reason to smoke. I have enough to relieve my stress. Like winning an argument against you."_

Willa sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I bet he was having you hold them for you because he didn't want his mother to find them, right?" She spread her legs a few inches apart, leaned forward and put her hands on her hips, ready to argue with Maybeck.

"Well, _duh_! Who would want their mother to find cigs in the laundry?" Maybeck.

"Apparently you don't think about your Aunt finding them in your laundry instead of your mother." Willa told him. "Considering you don't have a mother."

Maybeck looked like he was going to knock Willa out right there in front of Goofy sitting on a park bench. "Don't even go there, Isabella Angelo."

"Hey!" Bernadine shouted. "You guys need to stop arguing. Let's just go get the burgers, then Finn can press the magic button that sends me back to my bed. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Maybeck muttered shooting Willa the evil eye once more.

We were sitting at a table in the Columbia Harbour House and ten minutes later, Finn came in, carrying trays. He gave each of us a cheeseburger with the works: Lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and mustard. I picked off the lettuce. I hate lettuce. It's rabbit food.

Maybeck wolfed down his burger in three bites, slurped down a chocolate shake in two huge slurps and let out a huge belch. "Ah, food." He sighed contently.

"Pig." Willa muttered still working on her first dent in the burger. "You're disgusting."

"So is your face." Maybeck wiped off mustard from his left cheek.

"That's weak. That's pathetically weak." She snickered.

Finn, Bernadine, Nadeah and I were all laughing under our breath.

Maybeck mimicked Willa and she laughed. "It takes talent to pretend to be this." Willa waved a hand in front of her face.

"I bet, no one can stoop that low." Maybeck leaned forward and curled his lip at her. She reeled her hand back and slapped him.

His head jerked back, let he looked at her and he rubbed his jaw. "Hard slap. I don't want to feel you punch. What are you doing in PE?" He asked her.

"I take three dance classes and Tai Kwon Do." She smirked. "Plus I took Karate for a few years."

"You've got some native American warrior stuff going on." He muttered.

"I'm not Native American, you Neanderthal." She muttered. "I'm Italian!" She got up, disappeared into the kitchen and came back in. She snarled at Maybeck and then looked at everyone else. "Everyone done?" She asked. "Because I want to go home." She aimed her glare in Finn's direction. "_Now_."

We were gathered around the flag pole and the temperature was dropping again. The wind started blowing. We all shivered against the cold, and then Maybeck, Finn and Willa all turned a little more transparent and Willa sighed in relief. "Better."

I had goosebumps on my arm up to high heaven, so did Bernadine and Nadeah. Willa, Finn and Maybeck all seemed fine.

B-b-button." I stuttered. "Before it r-r-reaches fr-f-freezing."

"Y-y-y-yeah." Bernadine and Nadeah agreed.

Finn pulled out the black button and said, "Let's hope your three guy friends can find this button and they press it before the park opens."

"Or the Overtakers find them." Willa said.

Maybeck nodded in agreement.

Finn pressed the button and suddenly I jerked up as if I'd been falling in a dream. I remembered where I had just been. It seemed like I'd been there five seconds earlier, now I was back in my home. I looked out the window and took a deep breath. I didn't know if what happened had really just happened, or it was freak job in my subconscious, but... I felt uneasy. I gripped my bedspread tighter and slunk under the covers more, hoping for _normal _sleep.

I woke up in the morning to bright blinding light. I hissed and pulled the covers over my head tighter. I peeked out slightly and I could see the Housemaid, Charlese, standing there with her hands on her hip, staring at me.

"Charlese..." I complained.

"Alison..." She mimicked my whiny voice.

"It's Alei!" I reminded her. She yanked my covers off. I hissed and covered my head with my arms.

"Not in this house. In this house, especially when I'm running it." She was flipping through my closet, looking for something lady-like and age-appropriate. Good luck.

"My mother runs this house." I told her, desperate in my offense.

Charlese snorted. "You're mother took Francesca for a Spa Day. Neither of them is home."

"Where's Dad?" I asked, used to Francesca being yanked out of school for the day so my mother could show off her perfect child.

"Business trip. He's going to be in Ocala for the entire week." Charlese told me. "It's just you and me this morning."

"Oh, joy." I muttered rubbing my eyes. "What's for breakfast?" I asked her, falling back onto my pillow.

"French Toast." She said. "A cup of fruit." She sighed when she couldn't find anything satisfying for me to get dressed in. "And a banana muffin."

"Yum." I said. Charlese could be a pain in my neck, but she could make a tasty breakfast. "Can you get it for me while I take my shower?" I asked her, rummaging through my wardrobe. I found a navy blue tank-top and pale gray shorts.

"Yes. Make it quick." Charlese reminded me.

After my shower, I blow dried my hair and applied my eyeliner and mascara. I went into the third floor dining room where I found Charlese with my breakfast. "Eat." She ordered.

"Yes ma'am." I gave her an army salute. She'd been in the army until her thirties. Then she'd raised six children, then came to work for my mother when I was two. She was technically a housemaid, but more like my nanny. Even at fourteen, she felt it was her responsibility to keep me in line.

I arrived at school to find my best friend Paisley waiting for me. She smiled at me. "I see theirs no Freak-cesca today." She said happily.

"Yep. Know what's for hot lunch today?" I asked her.

"Spaghetti." She said tapping the bulletin board on our way in.

"Mmm... tasty." I said sarcastically.

"You bet." She flicked back her shot thin blond hair. We came into the main hallway.

The main hallway was small, crowded wall to wall, the light made me think of nausea, and it smelled like gym socks. There were boys who had started puberty at eight, so they were gorillas, and then there were boys who hadn't even sprung a whisker on their chin. The gorillas gave wedgies to the whisker-less, while the girlfriends of the gorillas watched and cheered for their men. The friends of the whisker-less were shoved into lockers and the teachers drank stale coffee in the teachers lounge. It dropped to nearly freezing some nights. Today was not one of those days. Even though real school was out, we all still gathered at the school by force of our parents (or housemaids) for the school day camp. Some of us skipped and went to the beach in Fort Lauderdale instead, but it was almost a normal school day.

I could see Francescas friends (or at least the ones who had decided to come for the day) in the corner sending me the evil eye. I sent it right back. Let them give me the evil eye. They didn't scare me. If I had to put up with these "Overtaker" people, I could put up with them.

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**Yay, Chapter Five is done! And I want my blondie in disguise (she knows who she is) to know, she's in here. Briefly. She'll be in here more, even though she hardly says a thing in this chapter, she'll be in other chapters a little more. A lot of my friends are hidden in here. It's just going to be tricky finding them this early in the story. **

**So, five reviews please! Don't hold back! (You know, unless its really mean. I no likie mean.) Love the review button. Love it, I say! Please, Five reviews to get chapter six. Peas and Turkey! :]**

**Update to keep the story up**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay for Chapter Six! Hurah! We're getting somewhere! Woo!**

**Oh, Alei is going to ask a question. I want you guys to answer truthfully in the reviews. My answer is: Yes, I have. It's torturous and you want nothing more than for it to end.**

**In case you Yankee Northerners are wondering why I'm writing about the hottest season of the years, it's because even down here in the south, we've had below freezing temperature. We're getting warm again (_Thank God)_**

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It was lunch time at Day Camp.

Have you ever suffered middle of a summer day in the middle of Florida heat? It's miserable. The thermometer read 99 degrees with 98 percent humidity. We were panting like dogs, spritzing ourselves with ice cold water. Or what we could spritz ourselves with, since I was pretty sure the water was going up in vapors.

The spaghetti was rank. The heat made the noodles swell and the humidity made it limp and lumpy. No one could eat it. Not even the boys. We couldn't stand swollen spaghetti. What we wanted were Popsicles, ice cream, air conditioning, ice water filled pools, and sprinklers.

Paisley was fanning herself with a few papers she'd been doodling on. The only thing it did was stir the hot air and humidity. I can take the Popular Clique and possibly I could take the Overtakers, but I cannot take Floridian heat. It kills people. Literally! Some people die of heat strokes, or are least hospitalized. It's not pleasant down here in the summer.

"Want... cold... air." Paisley gasped.

"Blizzard... Beach... Typhoon... Lagoon." I croaked. I could practically see the crowds. Hour long lines, wall to wall people, and not to mention the screaming toddlers.

"Air... conditioning." Someone whimpered not far away. "Want, to go... home."

I felt sweat tickle down my temple down to my jaw and drip off. I wiped the side of my face and sighed. "We have to do something." I told Paisley.

"What do you... expect me... to do?" She panted.

"We have to think of something." I insisted.

Paisley detached her sticky cheek from the table and frowned at me. "That's spectacular, Alei. You let me know when you find that something. And bring the ice cream with you, would you?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, snatching the papers form her and I began fanning my face, thinking the entire time.

Orlando had been struck by a heat spell. We spent our afternoons wearing as little clothing the school camp and law allowed. Cotton shorts and tank-tops. Sometimes I showed up in my bathing suit and tried getting relief from the school pool, but the water wasn't even cold, plus there was so many people begging for relief from the the heat.

I found myself sleeping in as little as possible, knowing that I'd pop up in the Magic Kingdom. The odd thing was, the first time I'd popped up in the Magic Kingdom was the only time I'd seen any of the other DHIs. I figured we were all in there somewhere, but when there's only twelve of you in the entire park, sometimes less, it's going to be tricky to find all of them. I usually sent myself back home by finding the black button as soon as possible, then I'd yank off my night clothes and aim a fan at me. I hated it. Some times I was freezing cold at nights. Other times, I felt like I'd melt right off my bones. I mean, some people spout the global warming thing, but I don't buy it. Even in Florida. What do they expect in the **Sunshine** State? _Snow_?

One night however, when I went to sleep, after getting up from a bench outside of the Hall of Presidents, I found Finn, Maybeck, Willa, Nadeah and Bernadine all on Main Street. Finn, Maybeck and Willa were all wearing shorts and t-shirts since it was a hot and humid night. The previous night, I'd thought I'd wake up with frostbite, now I was sweating and my hair was frizzing in clouds around me. I was wearing basket ball shorts and a spaghetti strap. I could see two more older kids, both in PJ'S, but looking oddly unaltered by the sudden pop up in Disney world.

One was a girl with long blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She wore light airy, breathable clothes, while the redheaded boy wore nothing but boxers and a t-shirt. I blushed at the idea of walking around the Magic Kingdom in my underwear. Either he was an incredible actor, or he'd already gotten over the idea of walking around in his underpants.

"Oh, we're all here." I said.

"Yep. Another glorious night of clueless fighting." Maybeck muttered.

"You bet." Willa said.

Finn cleared his throat. "Okay, so let's get down to business shall we?"

"What are we supposed to do?" Bernadine asked. "Just walk around and hope to kick some serious Overtaker ass?" She asked.

"For right now, yes." Charlene said.

"Bring it on." Bernadine punched her fist into the palm of her other hand.

"Sugar rush?" I asked her when she giggle uncontrollably.

"Maybe." She sang.

"Alright, everyone grab a partner, we do patrol tonight and then we start the real invesitagtion tomorrow." Finn ordered us.

Willa and Philby grabbed eachother, Finn and Maybeck stood side by side, Charlene grabbed Nadeah, Devlin and Amaro became friends, and then Charlene and Nadeah were nice enough to admit Ammon into their little group. and that left me and Bernadine who staked her claim by supporting her elbow on top of my head.

We all split up and moved into different sections. Bernadine and I moved into Tomorrow Land. We passed by the lake leading into it and she kicked a pebble into the lake with her cherry red converse.

"Have you been wearing street clothes to bed?" I asked her.

"Yep. I'm always in the look out for some nasty Overtakers. I got burned by the Pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. I told Finn, said the same thing happened to him his first time dealing with Overtakers. He told his mom he'd got burned by a cigarette by this bully named 'Pirate'. How lame of an excuse is that? You just don't tell your mom you've got a burn on your arm is all. Aloe stuff for sunburns works surprisingly well on lasers from Buzz Lightyear and ohmigosh I haven't breathed the entire time." She inhaled deeply and kept talking after another crazy giggle. "What have you been up to when you pop up here?"

"I find the button, I push it, I go home, I go dream normal people dreams." I told her. She rolled her eyes at me like I was acting ridiculous. Was it so hard to believe that I'd rather sleep that fight villains I watched in movies when I was six? Sorry to dissapoint someone who thinks I should be shaking in my boots when it comes to these people, but we grew up watching them in movies. _Cartoon_ movies. I get how a lot of the stories were sotries before Walt Disney made them movies, but seriously? Come on. I'm not afraid of Jafar from Addin or Ursula from Little Mermaid. In fact, the only thing that creeped me out about Ursula was the fact that she transforemd people into little worming things and ate things when they could still make noises. Ew. Jafar makes me think he's a pedophile. Because Jasmin's like eighteen and he's like what, _forty_?

Bernadine and talked about random stuff. Then we heard this really, freakish giggling sound. I was familiar. Where had I heard it before? You know how sometimes you reconize a voice and you know it, but you don't know where it's from? That was the feeling I was getting. Then suddenly this freakish alien thing popped out and I saw this one glowing red eye. The Alien was some kind of squid thing with two arms, each had four fingers and it's skin was like raw chicken. Ew. Then, I reconized him.

"Is that _Pleakly_ from Lilo and Stitch?" I asked Bernadine. "Ohmigod, he's like, psycho!" I said.

The Evil Pleakly giggled his psycho killer laugh and lunged at us.

"What the-?" Bernadine cried as she darted away from him. "I used to like him, why is he attacking us?"

Pleakly lunged again and one of his tentacles grabbed her arm. Instead of shrieking like I would have she got pissed.

"Oh, hell no!" She grabbed his tentacle and with a sickening ripping sound yanked it away from him. It came away and sqirmed and we watched as another tentacle grew it it's place. Oh, that's gross. However, the erm, amputated tentacle still attacked. Bernadine ossed the tentale at me and I jumped back. "Take care of that, I'm making calamari out of this mother-" But I didn't catch the rest because the tentacle wrapped himself around my head and I screamed and took off running. You never picture yourself freaking out over a cartoon characters limb, but when it's attached to your face, you freak out.

I rammed into some kind of wall, jumped back, saw the tentalce making a beeline for Bernadine who was punching the living heck out of Evil Pleakly. I jumped on it over and over, holding back my gag reflex. I'd have to throw up because I was squishing up squid-like tentacles with my bare feet later. I stomped on it one more time and then kicked it at a wall and laughed. It stayed where I preferred it: far away and unmoving. I killed a limb. Hurah for me.

I looked back at Bernadine who was wiping off her fists with Pleakly's captain shirt.

"He doesn't look like calamari." I said poking his head with my toe.

"Unfortunately for us, I was all out bread crumbs and a stove." She muttered.

"That's fine, I can't stand calamari anyways." I told her.

"Good. Niehter can I." She kicked him one more time just to release her anger on the little creep. What we were not expecting was Pleakly's eye to glow red again and his lips part in the mainiacal giggle and lunge for us once again.

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**Haha, I really hope my friend who inspired Bernadine read this Chapter. I'm digging deeper into her personality. In the beginning it was like, "She inspired Bernadine? Bernadine is so nice!" I used -------- because I needed some kind of butt-kicking character, and who popped into my head other my good friend? No one. So i used the good friend and voila! Bernadine. She also has a habit of suppporting her elbow on top of my head. It's her way of making fun of my shortness. I'm not short. She's tall. I swear.**

**Oh, I may not update for a while because I have a project I have to do for one of my classes. My teacher assigned it a month ago, I have a week left before it;s due, I haven't done diddly squat. Sorry. Blame my procrastinating issues. Which means blame me, but I seriously have to do this or my grade goes kerplunk. It's sad I know. (Insert sad violin music here - _________) But I like good grades as much as I like reviews, so, even though I can't update for a while, that's no excuse for no reviews, kay? Be good while I'm gone, love you all. I promise I'll be back as soon as I get this project in. Also, I know this was a short chapter, but you guys scared the crap out of me when I found five reviews for chapter five in less the twenty four hours. I'd hardly started on chapter five and now I had to write an entire chapter, email something to another teacher or my grade goes kerplunk, and now it's 12:38 AM and I have school later this morning. I'm tired! Goodnight.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, I'm back! It's about time. I got my paper on the Palestinians in. Who knew people without a country could have so much culture, Jeeze! Anywho, this is a good chapter, I'm making it longer than my other chapters because you guys deserve it. You put up my no updating for I think 2-3 weeks. Wait no longer, my lovelies!**

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~*Storybook*~*~Nightmare*~

*~Chapter*~*Seven~*

Bernadine jumped back and screamed. "Holy freaking crap!" Pleakly giggled again. His eye, which had popped like a zit under her foot (blech) had suddenly healed perfectly. It was bright cherry red and whirring around in his head like a mosquito.

"OH- mein Gott! Ich werde diese freakish Kalmarsache alle Weise zum Tag des Jüngsten Gerichts treten!" She cried in German. Pleakly lunged at her. She dodged him and crouched down as he bent over, giggling like someone had escaped the insane asylum. She spit the hair out of her face, murder- again- in her eyes as she eyed the ugly cyclops alien.

When you here the voice of Kevin McDonald coming out of a squid alien attraction you are majorly confused. "Come and get me. Make me into Calamari!" He cried waving his arms around and darting from side to side.

"Sie können wetten, daß ich Ihre Haut, Sie braten werde kränkliches Pleakly!" She hissed at him, mind on autopilot. She'd explained to me her automatic thinking was in German and he mind worked like a computer. She had to think before she spoke English. No time for thinking, words were coming out in German.

I don't know how Pleakly could understand German, but what was really odd... He responded. _In German_. "Ich werde Sie, Bernadine schlagen. Ich werde Sie schlagen. Ich werde nicht calamari sein!"

"Kommen Sie mich, Sie erhalten kriechen!" Bernadine cried.

Pleakly lunged. Bernadine shot at him, grabbed him and tackled him. She once again used her foot to smash his head and kicked away the icky bits. She sighed and stood and brushed off her shoulder.

Before anything, headless Pleakly stood up and silently attacked again. Bernadine let out a frustrated growl. She bent back and round-housed kicked Pleakly so hard, it reminded me of the Chuck Norris joke that Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked someone so hard that his foot broke the speed of light and went back in time, killing Amelia Earhart when she was flying over the pacific ocean.

Pleakly flew across the path and struck a wall. Bernadine mumbled and grumbled as she twisted his neck, effectively killing him. Hopefully for the moment. To be safe, she picked him up and threw him into the river under the bridge leading into Tomorrow Land.

"And that, is how you kick alien can." She said, smirking.

* * *

The next morning, I woke to found Francesca frowning down at me. "You sleep weird. Your mouth is open and you make a really loud snoring sound." She inspected her freshly manicured nails painted a transparent rose with white tips. "Usually, that is. I came in here last night to see what you were doing. You were just laying there with your hands tossed tot he side. I come in here this morning, you hadn't moved an inch. You slept like a stupid rock."

I groaned and sat up and ran my hands through my hair. "That's terrific. How was the spa?" I asked, knowing she just wanted me to show interest than her more than perfect life style. It was like complimenting Paris Hilton on her chiuaua. No one really cares except for her.

"Oh it was great. We both got cocoa leave body wraps, Queen conch shell treatment, gold extract massages, black pearl buffing, seaweed foot massages, and hot jade stone treatments. I'm very refreshed."

"I bet." I peeked out the window at the already eighty eight degrees day. I changed into a pale gray tank top and jean shorts. I walked out of the room with Francesca on my heels, explaining the rarity of black pearl buffing and coca leave wraps.

We found our parents sitting to the dining room table. Our father was reading the newspaper and our mother was sitting their impatiently waiting for Charlese to bring in breakfast. Charlese came in hauling a few trays. She placed a omelet in front of my mother, a grapefruit and a sugar packet in front of Francesca, a bowl of oatmeal for my father, and a bowl of cereal for me. My favorite breakfasts are french toast and mini wheats. It inspected the mini wheats, concluding they were maple brown sugar. Yes....

I was never really attached to my parents. The only time when my mother and I were close were the nine months when neither of us had a choice but to be close. If it was MY choice, my parents would be cool rocker/artist people. I always wanted to live in a loft surrounded by my favorite things. Art, music, books, and posters of old musics groups. But nothing is your choice when you belong to a country club and once a month are pressed, shined, smoothed out and painted to fit to your mother's liking and shipped off to a Junior Club Members dance. It's not fun. Francesca thinks it's a freaking blast to watch the boys tie their tennis sweaters and talk about the newest flavor of caviar. If she finds that attractive, that's her choice but making me slow dance with a Snidley Worthington kind of guy is not my idea of "fun" My idea of fun is shredding my jeans and splattering my wall with paint. I tried that once and my mother literally fainted. Grounded for five months. I broke my record.

Francesca and I were dropped off and I bee-lined it in the opposite direction. I met Paisley and we both took a deep breath.

"Where was was Freak-Cesca yesterday?" She asked me pushing back the hair in her face.

"Spa." I muttered. "She and my mother got the most expensive and exotic treatments money can buy. Even Bill Gate's butt cheeks would pucker at the amount of money they spent."

While Paisley calmed down from her laughing fit, i led her under the football bleachers and switched on the fan I'd set up under their. The football bleachers aren't tended to in the summer so Pailsey and I set up some lawn chairs and a fan plus we restocked our cooler. If the events of the day were bad, we stuck around the bleachers. If they were livable, we'd only stick around for half the day.

"Events of the day?" I asked her.

She flipped open the schedule book and found the day. "Um... Soccer game, shirts vs skins."

"Guys only?" I asked pulling a soda out from the cooler.

"Yep."

"Please tell me the ugly guys are shirts." I said sipping my Pepsi.

"Er, nope. Fatties and pig faces are skins today's."

"Euuwww." I groaned. "Why on Earth would they let fat boys be skins in a soccer game where all the fat and blubber is out in the open and jiggling?"

"Uck!" Paisley moaned. "I don't want that image! Eeeuuww! Can you imagine Eaton Duke playing soccer as skins?"

I tried, unsuccessfully, to block out the image of the snow white boy with more fat than a baby hippo running around shirtless. The jiggling fat would send me puking to my death, but the image was so funny I couldn't help laughing. We'd dubbed him "Eating Eaton." Most people imagined we made fun of the poor little nerd, but he was mean! He called every girl in our grade the b-word, once daring to call a girl the c-word and he got the lights pounded out of him. He's fat, mean, and ridiculously stupid.

"Okay, we'll be skipping that lovely event. What else is up?"

"The Water Olympics. A forty feet sprinkler marathon, diving competitions, breath-holding face-offs, back floating navigation... must I continue?"

"No. I might watch that one." I muttered. "I might compete in the sprinkler marathon. Sounds like fun. We get to wear our own suits?"

" 'Girls bathing suits must be one piece with no vulgar words or inoffensive signs on them. Back cannot be low cut. If a suit like this is not worn, swim team bathing suits will be provided.' Not to picky. It's not like you wear skimpy bikinis."

"Nah, that's Francesca's taste." I considered it, and then decided I'd do the sprinkler marathon. I was a fast runner. "Okeedokee artichokee, sign me up for the sprinkler marathon."

* * *

I stood in my royal blue one piece with my hair pulled back facing the maze of sprinklers set before me. Easy as pie. The crowd was just staring but I knew what had to be done. I could do this. The starting gun was shot and I ran like the devil had shot me with a tazer. I lept through the sprinklers, plainly in first place.

I don't know why I felt like I had to run, I just ran. Like Forest Gump. I do love that movie. I have a t-shirt that says, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get" but I like to add, "And sometimes the chocolates are crappy experiments. Like ME!'

So, back to my race, chanting "Run Alei, RUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!" to myself, I kept ahead of everyone. I felt incredibly light, I felt fast, like light. I felt like I was just ripping through the air. And then suddenly, I looked down, and flipped out because I could see the ground through my feet. I tripped over a rock and fell flat on my face. I jumped up after a twig girl zoomed past me, giggling hysterically and shouted behind her shoulder, "CLUTZ!"

I'm not a clutz, and I do not like being called one. I jumped up and ran after her, and felt ready to grab the annoying blond pony tail that was bouncing. All it would take would be just a quick little yank and she'd go down.

But I ran by quickly and yelled over MY shoulder, "BITCH!"

Later I was inspecting my blue ribbon which they had been so nice as to print my name on it. But then again, they took the names off all of the contestants and printed them on blue ribbons. Not that hard, but it made me feel special -and not in the "mommy says I'm special!" kind of way- to have a ribbon with my name on it. (Smile smile)

Paisley was fanning herself and watching me clip my ribbon to my t-shirt. "You won something. You actually did an extra curricular. You swore never to do extra curricular until you needed it to get into college."

I looked at her wide eyed. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Extra what now? This is not extra curricular. It cant be. Is it?"

She held up the pamphlet and I found a little star by the title.

CURSE YOU ASTERISK!!!!

* * *

**YAY! I'm back! I'm back, I'm back, I'm back. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh uh huh uh huh! But Is is not heres to stays. :( Five days till next update. I's off to my dad's for the weekend and he's got no internet. Which will be changing because teachers have been assigigining e-homework. (I hate it yet love it at the same time. It's for homework, but it's still internet!!!) But for the moment, five days(ish) until next update. Be good. Review review review!!!!**

**Haha! I got him! I finally got him back! The guy that Eaton Duke is based off called me the b-word a few weeks back. I wrote that little paragraph about him the day after he messed with me. Witing-war power. Stick that in your juice box and suck it __________! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

***Notey note. I don't speek German. I ony speek English. I got the German froma lovely translator. Isn't technology super? **


	8. Chapter 8

****

**Okay Chapter Eight. Time flies when your friend (_Tif_...) is about to bite your head off. Thank her, because she probably would have tackled me tomorrow at school if I hadn't updated tonight. Also, I'm just going to go with the flow on this chapter, most likely very short. I feel much more like hunting down my easter candy but once again it's the Tif situation. **

**WARNING WARNING to any guys, there will be boy worship in this chapter, so just skip the first few pargraphs. I'm a teenage girl, I'm built of hormones and water. Don't judge me!**

**Enjoy! **

***hint hint* I use the word Woobie because my twin (fraternal) brother and older sister had security blankets they called their woobies. I haven't got a clue. Me? I was a binky baby, I didn't suck my thumb and cling to a blanket. I got messed up teeth from a binky, thank you very much. Sorry for the boring story, just read the real story below:**

* * *

Bernadine had sent me a friend request on myspace. Totally surprised me. Her background was the German flag and her bumper stickers were goofy, f-you's, middles fingers, WTF's? and perverted. She never struck me as that until I clicked on her photos. She really was different during the day. I'd only met her once in real life, and I don't know if a jacked up hollogram system counts as "real life". Her photo scared the crap out of me. She looked like some kind of bad ass butt kicker. The kind you be friend with If you weren't afriad of them first. She had this angled picture of her peeking out from a dark purple hoodie. I wondered why someone like her would try out to be a host for the DHI system. If she looked at someone the wrong way, they might go screaming for their woobies in the opposite direction.

I wondered If I could find the other DHIs. I smiled devilishly and typed in Devlin MacShawn. Very Irish. I have to say, as a fourteen year old girl, running on 89% hormones, 10% caffeine and 1% sleep, my heart literally skipped a beat at Devlin MacShawn's shirtless photo. I turned away from my computer, turned on my desk fan and took three deep breaths. How was it possible to have a six pack at that age? HOW? His hair was in his face, and he looked dangerous (nummy nummy). He appeared to be at Adventure Islands. I'd been there enough time during the summer to reconize the Corkscrew. The evil ride ripped off bikini tops. No joke.

I wanted to send him a friend request, half because we'd be working together on the whole "Overtakers" thing, and the other half because I wanted to see uf there was any more pictures of him with his shirt off. But can you really blame me? I fall back on the Hormone thing again. But even without having to send him a friend request I found out the the three things that make him even more dreamier than his six pack and Irish Accent :He cooks. (Scream) He sings (double scream) and he writes beautiful poetry, wich also happens to be his songs (Triple scream).He had some of his poertry up and I wanted to burst into tears. God give me the strenghth not to tackle this boy to the ground that night.

Crap. _Crap_. Crap and and doppelte Scheiße (As Bernadine would say). I still had to see him tonight! I mean, we'd been putting off DHI meetings enough. Could I impress him? I'd have to go to bed looking my most fabulous! Jesus, I knew how to make myself look good, but how could I creep inot bed without my family or Charlese notice the fact I was sleeping in my gray ripped skinny jeans and black Gir t-shirt? Crap. Eyeliner! If I feel asleep in eyeliner, I'd look like the risen dead in Magic Kingdom. Look somewhat good without eyeliner, or risk looking like a model for Hot Topic or the risen dead. What to do what to do! Gotta think, gotta think, gotta think think think, gotta think, gotta think, gotta think think think...

Risk it. I'll risk it.

No! No and double nope. What happens if your eyeliners all smudged?

It'll be dark. And, I'm 82% sure there will be an unlcoked bathroom somewhere in the park.

What about the other 18%?!?!? GAAAAAHHH! WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO?!?!?!?! I like Devlin, maybe a lot more now that I saw that picture of him. And then theres the other boys. I could care didly squat about Ammon, Amaro and Maybeck but something about Finn and Philby... OMIGOD I WAS CRUSHING ON THEM TOO!!! Curse my estrogen run body! I was freaking out. I was panicking and twitching and I was never going to figure this out my dilema, let alone sleep!

Forget sleep, apply the eyeliner, then grab the nearest baseball bat. A couple of good swings will knock you right out.

Nah, that's dumb. I'll give myself a concussion.

So flipping what? Devlins hot!

Yes I know that... I was talking to myself! How does a shirtless picture of a guy turn a girl into a babbling puddle of talking-to-herself pathetic-ness? _**NO!!!!! **_Stop with the talking to myself. Check list: Ripped gray skinny jeans. Check. Gir t-shirt that makes boobs appear bigger than actual size. Check. Black converse with smiley faces and peace signs doodled all over them by the big Hippy Paisley. Check. Proactive 100 % absorbed. Check. Eyeliner. **_Check_.

* * *

**

I woke up to find Bernadine sitting on a bench watching me. Tonight, instead of her pajamas for once, she wore jeans, a t-shirt and the purple hoodie from her myspace photo. "Well, is it just me or did you..." she squinched up her face. "Do something to your face?"

"Don't make fun of mine if your is funny looking, okay?"

"Fine, fine..." She looked over her shoulder. "We're all here tonight. Nadeah's going crazy over Ammon's puppy dog eyes. She told me, quote, 'He looks like a puppy dog. Woof woof'. TMI, right?"

"Um, yes. But I'm sure you think the same thing about Amaro, am I right?"

She giggled and said innocently. "Yeah... Oh, and the Irish God himself wants to know where you are." She overly did the winking thing, even saying "Wink, Wink"

As we walked to Main Street she asked me I'd seen his myspace picture. "Yep. My jaw nearly came unhinged."

"I want to know where he got those abs. And if Amaro's got copies of them." She grinned again. It was creepy and oddly perverted.

Finally, when we arrived at Main Street, was Devlin. The archangels did sang, aleiluja! Skinny jeans looked good on him. On some guys, skinny jeans looked gross over emphasizing EVERYTHING and on other guys (coughcoughDevlincoughcough) they looked good enough to eat. He stood there in all of his hidden-six-pack glory. He smiled at me and I don't knwo if it was my vision or the fact we glow slightly as DHIs, but his smile made my stomach go all mushy. Bad stomach bad.

"So." He said turning to Finn and Philby (and neither of them were looking so bad themselves either. NAHHHH! NO! I will like only one guy, I will like only one guy, I will like only one guy, I will like only one guy...) "Where do we start?"

* * *

**I know I know it's uber short, but like I said at the beginning, I felt more like hunting down my easter candy (which I found! Sugar tooth dance here ___________________). Tonights more of a, "I'm off to read some fanfic, some wonderful fanfiction" (It follows the tune of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'. I'm weird tonight. Too much sugar maybe?) So, don't be hating because my chapter is short. Oh, and since I felt Bernadine wasn't acting enough like ________ I made her more like the friend I based her off of. Which I get to deal with in Science tomorrow. Nighty night! 1:21 AM FYI!!!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hurah hurah, Chapter 9, Chapter 9. I want to thank Tif, my buddy for accepting a very important mission that may or may not have to do with a certain Irish lad. So, thanks a lot!!!! **

**This is going to be a creepy episode. So, foolish mortals, enjoy my chapter. (Insert ghoulish organ music and evil laughter)**

* * *

We were all huddled and were trying to decide on partners for splitting up. I wanted Devlin as my partner. I mean, pssh, come on. He's got an Irish accent!

Bernadine made a grab for Amaro before anyone else could. Nadeah linked arms with Ammon and grinned slyly at him. Er... yay, Nadeah?

Willa snagged Philby, and Charlene snatched Finn. Maybeck shrugged and said he did better on his own anyways. That left me with... YES!!!!!

He walked alongside of me. "Where do you want to start?"

"Start what?" I asked. I honestly didn't have a clue what we were supposed to be doing. The dark accented to his dreamy mystery. My mind didn't give a flying rat about the Overtakers. Helloooo? Dreamy boy with accent vs made up villains? What do you think I'm going to prefer?

"Finn said clues will sometimes pop up. So all we have to do is walk around Rides and hope to find random clues. Go it?" He asked.

"Yeah… sure. Okay." I'd do whatever dreamboat asked me to. I could see from across the lake the looming figure of the Haunted Mansion and all of its Glory. Which is actually some cheap building that I used to think was the ride. The actual ride is this huge hidden white building. Hidden by lots and lots of trees. I think if you've ever been on the Train throughout the Magic Kingdom, you'll spot it and discard not realizing it's actually the ride that makes little kids scream. Trust me, tons more scarier on the inside. I still get freaked out by that hallway of doors that are being pushed and stuff. Call me a chicken; I'll gladly accept the feathers and beak to go with the role. I'm a chicken, and I do have my dignity.

"How about the Haunted Mansion?" I suggested. "It's my favorite ride."

"Mine too." Devlin said. "But the hallway with the doors has scared me since I was a young lad." I wanted to giggle. He used Irish terms! And he was afraid of the same part of the ride as I was! What a coincidence. I'm not kidding.

We found the entrance to the Haunted Mansion and the headstones freaked me out.

"They're nothing but riddles, rhymes, and Eleanor Audley." I comforted myself. I knew that "Madame Leota's" eyes blinked and moved, but her eyes moved too humanoid for comfort. "That thing is freaking scary." I muttered. I knew of course the Mansion would be locked. Devlin ran his hands against the door. He concentrated for a second and his hands slipped through, as if… light. He grinned. "It's a trick Finn and Maybeck showed me. Think of yourself as light, and light you shall be."

"Whatever you say, Yoda." I muttered. He disappeared all the way in. I was trying to figure out how to convince myself I was light when his head popped out. "Are you coming or not? I found the switch that turns on the ride. Joyride time!"'

"I thought the rides never shut down." I said.

He shook his head. "They used to, but since the Overtakers have been taking control of the system, shutting down the rides is a temporary wall. They know how to control them when they're on, but when the rides are off, it's more complicated. Like turning on a machine without a button, that you're supposed to control with touching. Easy when on, trickier when off. Turning on the ride… well it'll risk us, but as long as we're light, nothing can hurt us."

"That makes the threat so much easier to deal with." I muttered before finally pushing my body through the doors. I was able to see surprisingly good because we cast off bluish glows. I recognized this place as the hallway before you entered the stretching room. I couldn't figure out if the walls actually stretched, or if we were in an elevator. I could remember the first time I'd ever come on Haunted Mansion.

_It was Charlese, Francesca and our Mother. We'd just spent the entire morning in __Fantasy__Land__ while Francesca got doted in a Cinderella dress, fairy wings, a crown, a wand, and "glass" (plastic) slippers. I wore a Grumpy t-shirt, jeans and a Goofy hat on. Francesca was Six, I was five. The goofy hat kept slipping down my face and Charlese was insisting she take it since it was too big._

_"Uh-uh." I said crossing my arms, letting the hat slip down. "My hat." _

_"Your such a stubborn little girl, Alison." Charlese chuckled. I hadn't come up with the nickname Alei yet. But I stuck my tongue out at the name Alison. I hated it, even as a little kid._

_"What do you want to go on, Alison?" Charlese asked. _

_I had been eyeing __Adventure__Land__, Frontier land, and __Liberty Square__ for a long time. "There!" I pointed in the direction._

_"Noooo." Francesca whined. "No dirty places. __Fantasy__Land__ is where it's at! But you don't know that do you?" She teased. "You didn't get any princess stuff, Alison. And I did. I'm the princess, you're the servant." She curtsied like a little snob. _

_Our Mother was along for the heck of it, she would be bored and Francesca wanted to meet the Princesses. And what little "Franny" wanted little "Franny" got. She went by Franny until she was ten, when it was dubbed uncool to have a name ending with a y or an ie. It sounded babyish. Timmy, Tommy, Jimmy, Susie, Becky- Franny._

_Our Mother didn't care; she just shrugged when Charlese looked at her. "Give her what she wants."_

_We walked around the three parks for a while and Francesca made Mother carry her in fear of mud on her "glass" slippers._

_I saw the Miss Liberty chugging across the river and I watched it go by, slightly interested in going on it, but then it went by the __Haunted__Mansion__ and that was that. I wanted to go on that ride. I pointed my pudgy five year old finger over to the mansion. "That. I wanna go on that." I looked at Charlese expectantly. She shrugged. _

_"If you want, honey." Charlese said. "But it might be a little scary for you."_

_Francesca eyed it. "No. No, no, no. Mama, tell her I don't wanna go on that."_

_"But Franny, it's my turn to pick the ride!" I protested._

_Franny bunched up her face and worked up a couple tears. The way she got everything when she was little._

_She started screaming and kicking and protesting my choice. Mother tried to calm her down, but she wouldn't give in. Charlese snapped, "Francesca! Enough! Stop your screaming, or we'll head back to the hotel this instant!"_

_"But **I **don't wanna go on the __Haunted__Mansion__ thingy!" She kept kicking._

_"Miss Beuchenn, I'll take Alison on the Haunted Mansion, you take her to get some Ice Cream."_

_That cheered Francesca up. "Mama, I want strawberry with princess sprinkles!"_

_"You'll get it." Mother said, taking her hand and leading her away from us._

_Charlese lead me over to the Haunted Mansion and when we finally got in, I was holding my hat up so I could see. I was fascinated with the cast members being all ghouly looking. We were shuffled into the stretching room and I looked around at the paintings and gargoyles. When the creepy voice welcomed us foolish mortals, Charlese looked down at me worriedly. What, was I supposed to be afraid?_

_Suddenly, the lights went out and I looked up like everyone else, but the hat fell and when I heard an ear piercing scream, I couldn't see. I looked up as soon as I got the hat out of my eyes, but I missed it. The lights were back on, the doors were open and we were being ushered into the area that we loaded the doom buggies. "What did I miss?" I asked Charlese._

_"Oh… nothing." She said. "Just a silly affect."_

_We got into the doom buggy and started my first ride on the __Haunted__Mansion__._

I smiled and waited for Devlin to turn on the ride and the dimmer lights. When he came back he smiled at me. I was staring into his eyes. I wanted to giggle like a ridiculous fan girl. He smiled right back at me. We stared for a second before he jumped and ran his hand through his mane of dark hair. "We should get going. Y'know, before the Overtakers show up."

Brain. Connect. Connection. Make a connection!

"Um… yeah." I mumbled. We walked through until we reached the stretching room. He pushed the door open. The door on the opposite end was open, even though the room was still in it's pre-stretchy state.

We walked through quickly and just as we stepped through the door, it swung shut and slammed. I jumped and Devlin caught me.

"Looks like we're not alone anymore." He said.

"That was fast." I muttered and inching away. I waited for ambush. I looked around. "Well... what's keeping them?"

He shrugged. "It's not just Overtakers you know. Finn said at night, the attractions takes on what the ride makes them appear to be. 999 peppers ghost affects turn into 999 real ghosts."

"Your kidding!" I said.

"Nope. And all 999 are run by the Overtakers."

"They could trap us." I said.

"If they really wanted to." He put his hand on my back and nudged me forward. "But the thing is, they were never human, so what's going to make them think like human's? Nothing. All they know to do is do what the Overtakers say, and chances of enough _controling _overtakers being in here? Not big. Just a bunch of confused ghosts and maybe a measly Overtaker assistant or two."

"No real threat?" I asked. "That's good."

"But the ride is going to be creepy as hell. As long as we don't tempt the ghosts, they should leave us alone." We saw the doom buggies moving.

"Hop on." He said. He pushed me into one of the buggies. After traveling a few feet, the buggie's bar automatically came down. If that was the ride or a real ghost, I never want to know. Ghosts freak me out.

A screen flickered and I smiled. It was my part of the haunted mansion. It appeared to coem in fuzzy at first, then the old yellowish and brown film, then black and white. It showed my face, waxy with dark hair pulled back giving me that botox-ified look.

"Welcome, mortals. I am your host. My name is Madelynn Gracie. I was born in this house." My ghost self smirked. "And I died in this house. I will be taking you on a tour through my life-long home." After a second or two I said, "Make sure the bar is all the way down. We don't want our guests falling out, do we? Unless you wan to become our 1000th housemate!" I cackled. "Let's begin, shall we?"

The first part of the ride is when your going through the hallway of portraits. The eyes follow you. I've always wondered if the eyes are machine operated or that painting trick to make the eyes look like they follow you. Because whatever doom buggie your in, they always follow you! But they look machine operated. Mysteries mysteries.

Speaking of mysteries, comes the library with the "Ghost" writers. Their heads move. I haven't been afraid of the ride. Ever. Just the parts when the doors push against the walls and I always felt sorry for the old man trying to get out of his coffin. It always made me think of this really old relative that died when I was like eight. But when we reached the ballroom scene, everything went confusing. The ride jerked to a stop. That's where things went way, way off course.

A voice that was familiar came over intercom instead of the first creepy voice. "Greetings, Keepers. The Ride has been shut down due to... shall we say _maitenance? _Your buggie is unlocked, feel free to explore."

The bar swung up and hit the buggie with a loud clanging sound and the female voice cackled and faded. We just sat there. "Well...?" Devlin said.

"I'm not moving. Because if that's what I thought it was, the second I step out of this thing, all of the buggie are going to go a thousand miles per hour and run me to the Underworld and back." I told him.

He chuckled. "You can't die. We're not really here, remember? Tucked away in bed with our mother's just down the hall."

"Yeah. Right." I snorted. "So what do we do?"

"Get out of the buggie, Alei. Just remember. Light." He stood and turned slightly more transparent then walked right through my legs, rasing goosebumps on my arms. Nothing happened like slamming my back against the buggie as we sped on. I stood, calmed my nerved, and focused on being light. I stepped out and after standing next to Devlin, watched as the buggies started creeping along.

"Hey!" I said. I started to climb back in one but the bar swung through my hands as if to say "No way, sister!"

Devlin grabbed my arm and after a few minutes, the Buggies stopped coming. "I s'pose that's the green light to start moving."

"Okay." I walked alongside him. I stopped and watched the ballroom scene. "You know how that's done during the day?" I asked.

"Yeah. Machines and a peppers ghost affect. It's real hard to explain. But right there? Those are real. In a way."

I watched as a the "King" looked up, spotted me and flashed me a creepy toothless grin. Ewwrr... moving on.

You know that part of the ride when your surrounded by stairs and spinder webs? That's where things took a tun for the worst.

I was shuddering at the thoughyt of spiders when Devlin grabbed me and stilled me. "Alei. Sssh. Look." He pointed forward. I saw what looked like a little Victorian girl.

"I don't remember her." I said.

He shrugged. "Neither do I. But there she is."

The little girl smiled at us. "Hi. Wanna play? I have skipping rope." She held up a rope and I gulped as I spotted a noose on the end.

Apparently Devlin is better with Ghost kids than I am because he walked up to her and kneeled. He held out his hand. "My name is Devlin. What's yours?"

She shooked his hand, switching the noose to the other hand. "Susie. I'm Susie."

"How old are you, Susie?" He asked nicely. She held up one hand.

"This many. Are you gonna play with me?"

"How long have you lived here?" I piped in, finding my voice and legs.

She wrinkled her nose but answered my question. "I've lived here my _whooollle _life. Are you going to play with me?"

Devlin stood up and took her hand. How do you hold a ghost's hand? "Sure we're going to play with you." He said to her smiling. Then he looked back at me. "Coming, Alei?"

"Yeah." I squeaked.

"Why don't you take us to your room, Susie?" He asked.

"Sure." She said cheerfully. She climbed over the banister and headed for a pair of stairs. Devlin looked at me and looked down. The stair cases were endless! Susie was climbing, the noose swinging in her hand cheerfully. Then she turned around and motioned us forward. "Come on! I have LOTS of toys to play with!"

How was that possible? There was only enough room for the ride, not for rooms for individual Ghosts! Yet, I climbed my way over to the staircase and nervously followed persuit. Eventually, in a very weird way, we found ourselves in the hallways with the floating candelsticks. Susie walked by as if it was nothing. She picked a door and pulled out a key from her back pocket. It had a Mickey Mouse on it. This wasn't supposed to be a bedroom. It was storage! We walked through and the second Susie walked by a candle, the wick burst into flames. The room had crates shoved against a wall, covered in dust. There was a squeaky old bed with dolls and stuffed animals piling it. All of them were Disney Characters. Correction. Disney _villains_. The Overtakers were corupting this little girl's mind. Then I noticed a suitcase. I picked it up and read the tag on the inside. I reconized the name. _Susie Collin_. I cupped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Susie Collin was a little girl, who had gone missing when she was a little over a year old. Her family had been visiting the Park and when her older siblings were getting autograph's, baby Susie Collin was snatched right out of her stroller. Never to be found, her family set up a two week search party for Susie. But she hadn't be able to walk, and could hardly crawl. Susie Collin was never found.

Yet now... I had discovered what had happened to her. She'd been snatched by an overtaker and had been hidden inside the Haunted Mansion. For four years she'd been living inside the very park Disney cast members had taken apart from the top of the castle to the hidden tunnels. The poor little girl wasn't dead, she was alive, and hiding.

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**Okay. I had planned on this being a lot more action packed and spark filled, but thanks to a glitch in my computer, I lost EVERYTHING I had typed after this. And it was pretty cool too. But since I truly don't feel like typing it all over again right now, I'll give you guys this. Devlin and Alei shared one of those gooey moments, and I had more planned out. Oh well. I'll start retyping the action and tantrums in a few hours. In case you guys hadn't noticed: This is my longest chapter so far. The total word count of this chapter is: 3243 words. New record! Woot woot! I may have screwed this up a little bit cuz I haven't been on the Haunted Mansion in 3-ish years. I heard they added to it, so no one hate me. But don't worry! I visit Disney World at the end of this summer, so if there's any glitches and stuff, I'll be sure to fix 'em.**

**Read and Review! Peas and Turkey! (:)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, hello! This chapter may be shorter because it was actually supposed to be a part of chapter nine, but istead, it's going to be it's own chapter. So just think of it as Chapter 9 part II. I luuuuurrrvve Roman Numerils. In case any one you have read Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, you should get the luuuuurrrvve thing. Okee dokie, mah artichokees, let Chapter 10, BEGIN!**

**May 12, 2010: Hiiiiiii! Lookie, I''ve been thinking, and I've been letting the less and less reviews slide. Lizzy no likie. A friend of mine from school writes for Quizila or whatever and she tells me you have to stay strict wiht your fans (And for my costant reviewers, like Barbiegirl22, Anonym, and .sola and you other more-than-once reviewers, I haven't stressed how much I appreciate it. Any of my new readers, feel free to start following. I love my fans and stuff, so join the bandwagon!) So I've decided to listen to her and I want five reviews for this chapter, because I won't update until I have five or more. No exceptions. At all. So be some dears and write me some reviews. Lizzy out.**

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"Do you know who these people are, Susie?" I asked her, picking up a Captain Hook doll. Why anyone would want their child to snuggle with a Disney villain, I hadn't a clue.

Susie took Captain Hook from me and hugged him. "This is Uncle Hook. Mommy says he'll protect me from all that is no good." Then she picked up the noose. "She gave me this to play with. But she said it also serves as punishment for anyone who won't play with me."

"What does your Mommy say is no good?" Devlin asked.

Susie scrunched her face up. "Mmmmm... Kingdom Keepers. She says they lock us up and will beat us. She says if I ever feel threatened by a Kingdom Keeper, I'm to scream and put this around their necks and have Uncle Hook hang them. She says it'll teach 'em a lesson.

Devlin and I both rubbed our throats absently. "Who's your Mommy, Susie?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know her name. But she looks like this one." She picked up a Maleficent doll. "This one's my favorite 'cuz it looks like Mommy. I don't see her everyday, so when I don't see her, I have my dolly to keep me company. Sometimes I'll go a long time without seeing her or Daddy. I almost never see Daddy, but when I do, he gives me good advice on stuff."

"Who's Daddy?" I asked, pointing to the dolls.

"I don't have a dolly that looks like him, but I gots a picture!" She said. She ran to a dusty trunk and her tiny five-year-old limbs lifted the top. She rummaged through it until she pulled out a picture. It looked like a poster. It was of a demonic bat thing. I could remember this when I was her age. It was Chernabog. She called Maleficent Mommy, and Chernabog Daddy. They just screwed this little girl's brain up!

"He doesn't always look like this. He'll sometimes to turn into a bat, or he'll look different, but I always know it's him 'cuz he's got a nickname for me."

"What's the nickname?" I asked her.

"I can't tell you." She said, big eyes wide. So cute, yet so corupted! She leaned forward and whispered. "It's a secret."

"Okay then, when was the last time you saw your Daddy?" Devlin asked her.

She looked confused. She held up ten fingers. "This many days."

"When was the last time you saw your Mommy?" I asked.

"Yesterday. She took me out to get chicken fingers. Then, we went on Splash Mountain and watched the fireworks. I like the fireworks. They are soooo pretty. Mommy says that this is my kingdom. My magic kingdom." She smiled. I didn't. This poor child was so curupted, but she didn't know. It wasn't her fault.

Later we sat, crowded around a table somewhere in tomorrow land. Finn whipped us up a couple of bugers and we shared our expereiences of the night. Maybeck reported karate-chopping a small-world doll.

"It was actually some wirey, twitching glitch, but I freaked." He leaned back in his chair and cracked his knuckles like he'd actually beaten an evil doll.

"But you know enough about those dolls to beat them without actually vandalizing the ride." Willa said.

"I wasn't going to smile pretty for your precious dollies, Willa." He snorted.

Willa rolled her eyes, then they suddenly widdened as if she'd remembered something. "I don't think alone for much longer... I was walking through Fantasyland earlier... it was so weird! You know Cinderella's Carousel?"

We all nodded.

"The images in the middle were moving, as if in real life. And the horses! Oh my God, the horses! They were still on their poles, but they whinnied and stomped their hooves. It's either the overtakers setting a trap, or the protagonists of Disney Movies making an appearance."

We sat there in silence, abosorbing our newfound info. Maybeck spoke first.

"Oh joy, now Cinderella can poke out an overtaker's eye with her glass slippers."

All of the boys snickered along with Maybeck. After a few seconds Philby looked considerate.

"Actually, if they do show up, it could be a good thing. In all of the movies, the bad guys always have their asses handed to them on silver platter."

"Not by the princesses." Maybeck muttered.

"Since when have you been sexist?" Charlene demanded to know, placing her hands on her hips. Willa nodded in agreement and Bernadine crossed her arms and leaned forward, awating his answer.

"Oh... I'd say about.... February 30th?" Maybeck said sarcastically. Us girls rolled our eyes.

I later awoke, jerked from sleep by Finn pushing the black button. I rose from my matress and checked the time. Uck. 4:52 in the morning. It was, but early birds would be waking up soon. Like Charlese. She'd wake up, take a quick shower, make her coffee, read the paper, make some breakfast, and start her chores until it was brekky time for us.

I got up and walked down the hallway. I considered knocking but I was still in my street clothes. I changed quickly into yoga pants, and a tank top. I messed up my hair a little and hurried back down the hall.I knocked gently. Charlese opened the door. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and an old terry-cloth robe.

"Hmm. Good morning." She said a little suspiciously.

"Hi. Good morning. Could I help with breakfast this morning? I'm bored." I don't know what brought on the want of a chore, but Charlese was like the mother my real mother could never be.

"Sure. It's waffles, scrams, and home fries."

"Yum." Scrams by Charlese were fluffy, cheesy, with salt, pepper, and chopped green peppers. Scrams are scrambled eggs. Later that morning, when I ate breakfast with my uncaring family, breakfast tasted sweeter, knowing I helped make it.

Later that day, I was at the pool with Paisley.

"So, has the MK told you when your next paycheck is?"

"Every month I'm used as a Host/attraction guide, I get about five Benny Frankies."

"Only five?" She asked in disbelief.

"They've got enough employees to pay. And it's five more than I had the months before." I grinned.

Suddenly I heard a wild yell and a splash. Water hi me and Pais. We screeched, not because we were soaking wet, but because it was freezing cold and we were surprised. I jerked up, snatched off my sunglasses, ready to rip off some unlucky soul's face. I froze.

Finn! It was _Finn_! He was staring at me wide eyed.

"Finn?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Um... Swimming?" He said.

Paisley was drying off. She wrapped her short cap of blonde hair in her towel. "Oh cool! Finn Whitman. You're like, another Kingdom Keeper, right?"

Finn didn't like our nickname, but he accepted that it wasn't going anywhere. "Yeah... one of the originals."

"Cool." Paisley said again.

Finn climbed out of the pool. Good. Lord. I knew he was about fifteen or sixteen, but the guy was hot! He sat down next to me.

"So..." He said.

"So..." I echoed him.

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**Heyyyyy, sorry it took me so long to update, but oh my gosh, I got grounded from the computer. I'm just a kid and unfortunately my abilites to update can be affected by the man. (Or the mom, in this case). But never fear, I'm back! Love yas. Don't forget those five reviews. Five reviews= xD Not five reviews= DX. Tick tock, review review! Peas and turkey?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okie dokie, artichokee. Chapter 11! This was a fun chapter to write. I'm glad we've moved into the double digits area. We're actually progressing! Woo! And in case no one else has noticed, I have the most reviws out of the Kingdom Keepers fanfic! Yesssss! It's not as much as I'd like (100 or more) but it's something when you're competing with 18 other documents! So just keep on giving me reviews! Please! And everyone vote in my poll. It's who has more fans. Are you Team Devlin or Team Finn? Who will steal Alei's heart? Vote and I'll think about making your choice a reality!**

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` I inspected the ugly purple, blue, and green bruise on my neck. Crap. All the makeup in the world couldn't hide this bad boy. Paisley would know, the teachers would know some of the details. My parents would be horrified, and Charlese would be disappointed. The club would be disappointed.

I held my head in my hands. Why couldn't Finn have given me a hickie _after_ tonight? Smooth, Alei, real smooth.

I pulled out all the steps of foundation and grimaced. Ugh, I _hated _complicated makeup. I do eyeliner and mascara, not any of the layer-by-layer guck. But this was an emergency.

Unfortunately, the junior social for our Country Club was tonight. Snidely Worthingtons' and girls who'd gone under the knife before their sixteenth birthday mixing and socializing galore… then there would be me, sitting by myself in a corner somewhere.

After a couple dozen layers of foundation, the bruise was almost invisible. Only if someone looked really carefully would they be able to spot it.

I straightened my hair and added very little eyeliner. I had my dress picked out. It was forest green, just above the knees and looked like a 1930's flapper dress. It revealed quite a bit of my cleavage-y area. My shoes were black ballet slippers, I had a black choker. I wrapped myself in a black jacket that reached my knees.

Freak-cesca was untouchable in a pastel dress half way past her knees. Her hair was in ringlets. She was wearing a ton of makeup.

"Nice of you to join us, Alison." She quipped.

"I'm sure." I grumbled. Let's just go."

In our limo, she sipped on fizzy water from a champagne glass. "You know, I'm hoping Casper Don will notice me. Lily says his eye is supposedly on a Beuchenn Sister. Me, of course." She laughed and sipped her fizzing H20.

"Uh-huh." I muttered.

"As if any boy would like you. You're not even cute." She said matter of factly.

Finn didn't think so.

"Of course." I said. Just follow along.

"Now me… surely Casper will ask me to dance. Maybe you'll get Wilbur Schmidt."

"Maybe." I responded, sighting the three story tall club house.

After getting out of the limo, Francesca turned to me. "Please _try _and fit in?"

"You bet." I gave her a pair of sarcastic thumbs that wanted to be middle fingers.

I was sitting at our table, drumming my fingers against the surface, watching girls socialize and gossip about certain boys. The same boys they were chattering about were watching their butts.

A group of girls, otherwise the brats among brats made their great _entrée_.

The first was Sofea, the alpha she-dog. She wore a royal blue dress that fluttered around in feathery layers. Her curly platinum blonde hair was piled on top of her head. Next to her was redhead.

The redhead was Yvonne. She has wild hair and ginger looks, but unfortunately, she was a modelesque ginger. Her dress was polka dotted gold with a black background. She'd gotten pissed at puberty a few months ago. She had acne, her blessed menses, and unwanted hair but lacked the twin girls. So she bought herself a pair of high Cs.

Linda was a brunette with the brain of a squirrel. She was wearing a pretty diamond crown and cotton-candy pink tutu dress. Plus diamond earrings, choker, anklet and two razzle-dazzle bracelets per wrist. Her shoes made her tallest even though naturally, she was shortest. She was the least mean, just to stupid to know who're the right people and who aren't.

I sipped on a Virgin Pena-colada and watched as semi-helpless hormonal boys rushed over to serve their every wish and whim.

I could see Casper and Wilbur standing across from me, whispering and snickering at certain people's actions.

Damn if Casper wasn't good looking. He was tall and built. He had long blonde hair he usually kept pulled back.

Wilbur wasn't much to look at. He had blackish brownish hair in a small cap on a big head. He had bangs, crooked teeth, and bags under his eyes. I don't know why Casper kept him around.

My sister was squealing and giggling in her group of Casper-worshipers.

Those poor pathetic girls. I'd known for years that he liked me, due to my "sassy" rebellious ways.

Casper looked my way and licked his lips. Eeuuww. He started swaggering his way over to me. If I didn't have the dress holding me back, I would have bee-lined it in the opposite direction. There wasn't any boy in heaven or hell or on earth that I could hate more than Casper Don.

I quickly walked to the ladies room and just before I opened the door, a hand slapped onto the wall in front of me. I looked into the eyes of Casper.

"Helloooo, Alison." He crooned.

"Alei." I insisted.

"Alei." He corrected himself. "What are you doing in a place like this, dressed as ravishing as that?"

"Euw, Casper. Keep your deepest dreams to yourself."

"My dear, in my dreams, nothing is kept to me; especially when you're in them."

Shudder. "Casper, I think you need to take a long walk off an extremely short cliff."

"In height, or course." He said.

"You wish."

"You don't?" He smiled.

"No I don't."

"Oh. But me falling off a cliff would disarrange my gorgeous face."

"I wish I could rearrange it. Unfortunately, my super powers only go so far."

"Do you know what I want to rearrange?" He asked me.

"No, what?" I muttered.

"The alphabet."

"And why's that? So you can put 'U' in center of attention?"

"Of course not. So I can put 'U' and 'I' together."

"Really? If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'F' and 'U' together."

He leaned forward and smiled. "Just give me the place and time darling, and I'll come running."

"And I'll be running away." I told him.

"I can keep up."

"No, you can't. Did I mention I'm in a relationship?"

Some of the confident twinkle in his eye left, but he kept up the charm. "He's one of those 'Grow Your Own Boyfriend' pets isn't he?"

"Even if he was, I'm sure you'd still be smaller than him in total. And they only grow up to three inches."

"Darling, I'm taller than you."

"I'm sorry, you thought I was talking about height? I was talking about your surely unsatisfying length. In the _entre la région de jambes_."

"Because you've never gotten bigger." He snarled at me. I loved how he spoke fluent French. It made it easier to insult him.

"I've never gotten any." I told him.

"Don't encourage me." He patted my cheek. "You just might regret it one day." He scowled and walked away.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. Not today I wouldn't.

Finn and I teamed up that night. Bernadine raised an eyebrow but veered off and snatched Amaro. They looked like they made a cute couple. Nadeah shyly pulled Ammon to the side. Charlene paired with Philby because they were becoming better friends. The look on Maybeck and Willa's face was priceless when they realized they would be paired together. Devlin didn't mind going off alone. Willa tried running off with him, but Devlin ditched us.

Willa pulled me aside. "Alei, I will give you twenty bucks to switch with me. Finn and I work good together. We're friends. Maybeck and I are like cats and dogs, day and night, doors and windows toothpaste and plaque. We don't go together!"

I didn't know Maybeck. We almost never exchanged words. So why would I go off with him instead of the extremely cute older guy who'd given me a hickie the previous day? Hmm… I got nothing.

"Sorry, Willa. I don't know Maybeck. And if he's that horrible. I'm not going to want him. Besides, you two look cute together when you fight."

"We are not cute together." She insisted.

"Sure you are. You just have to learn how to live with each other."

"Don't ever say 'live with each other' in the same sentence where Maybeck and I are both being used."

"Willa, how come you can't stand him, when everyone else seems to fairly like him."

"I-I-I don't know!" She said too quickly. I smiled. Willa couldn't hide it. She liked Maybeck.

"Keep telling me different things from your diary, Willa. I gotta go. Finn's waiting for me."

"But-but-but!" She stuttered.

"Good luck!" I called over my shoulder.

"Alei!" She protested.

Finn and I were walking around Adventure land. I could just barely here the theme music of Pirates of the Caribbean.

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me." I sang.

Finn picked up from where I left off. "We kindle and char, inflame and ignite,  
Drink up me hearties, yo ho. We burn up the city, we're really a fright. Drink up me hearties, yo ho. We're rascals, scoundrels, villains, and knaves. Drink up me hearties, yo ho. We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs. Drink up me hearties, yo ho."

Then together we both sang, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!"

We laughed and I asked him. "How do you know the lyrics?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I guess you can say, I always wanted to be a pirate when I was five."

I laughed. We paused by the entrance to listen to the music.

"They've rebuilt it since I first got burned by the original pirates. I wonder what it'd be like now."

"I'm going to guess… dangerous?" I said.

"And fun." He teased.

"Loads." I said sarcastically.

"C'mon." He said.

"Okay!" I said. "Let's go."

We walked through the dungeon like line passage ways until we came across the boats bumping along. We climbed into one.

Most of the ride was still the same since they'd updated the ride. It was still freezing cold inside, which rose goose-bumps to my arms and legs. The new part when you went through the waterfall where Davy Jones is talking to you. I almost never understand what the heck the guy is saying. The part that used to give me the chills was when you see the dead skeleton still fighting his way through a storm. The fake wind makes me even more cold, and then because I'm deathly afraid of seagulls, I'm creeped out.

The ride seemed fairly normal. I was expecting one of the skeletons to jump off their little islands and eat us, but they stayed where they needed staying. But… when you come up to the point where the skeletons go bye-bye and all the pirates are "alive" they really were alive.

The ride jerked to a stop and I got the great pleasure to look up into the face of a scruffy pirate. He pointed his sword in my face.

"Avast, me hearties. What's a pair of you young ones doing in such a place like this? Ye wouldn't be updates now would ye?"

"Uh, no sir. I'd appreciate it if you got that sword out of her face." Finn told the pirate.

"Well, young lad, that's the thing, if this here sword ain't be in her face, it's going to be in yers. Yer face, or this fine young lass?" Oh gross. A scruffy robotic pirate was flirting with me. Hadn't enough creeps done that today?

"Isn't there an in-between?" I asked. "Like, um, your face?"

"Now lassie, why would I put me own sword in me own face? How stupid do ye pass me off for?"

"Considering the fact you don't have a brain, I'd expect you to be pretty dim-witted."

The sword poked my nose. That thing was pretty dang sharp for a ride little kids go on. I mean, shouldn't it be none-scary and/or pointy?

"Ye would be wise to shut yer trap." He said in a hushed voice.

"Okie dokie." I said.

Five minutes later I found myself in a rather… interesting predicament. You know that part of the ride where you see all those women tied up for auctioning? Yeah… I was the new addition. It was weird because all of the auctioned women gave me snarky looks. Please, as if I wanted to be sold to a robot for bags with most likely lead in it instead of actually gold.

Finn was tied up and in new attire to. How did they managed that? I knew for a fact that whatever you went to bed in, your going to pop up in. Does that mean back in his bed he was still in his other clothes or had they magically changed into pirate clothes. And he looked amazingly good-looking in his pirate-y clothes. They hadn't changed me. I was still in jeans, a t-shirt and a sweat-shirt. Why change Finn and not me?

I guess it was all for the best. I'd fell it would be cah-reepy to be undressed and redressed by a robot pirate.

Finn was gagged and looked slightly confused and unimpressed. I'm sure he could get out of it. In fact he did. He did the whole "I'm-going-to-make-myself-transparent-now-if-you-don't-mind" thing. Unfortunately for Finn, the pirates did mind. But Finn Whitman dressed as a pirate. Phwoar. He grabbed a sword from a slow and unsuspecting pirate.

"Okay you stupid brainless pirates, this is pointless. I can undo all your bolts and screws until your all piles of metal and cloth or you can let my girlfriend go and we can go on our way."

Girlfriend? I didn't remember saying yes, but whatever makes his day.

"Yer a magical pirate, aren't ye, boy?" The main dude said.

"I wouldn't call it magic, and the only reason I look like this is because you perverted pedophile pirates took all of my clothes off and dressed me in this ridiculous get-up."

I wouldn't call it ridiculous, but that's just my opinion.

"Well, I think I've had enough of this stupidity." I started making myself transparent but then the main guy grabbed me and pressed the sword against my middle, length ways.

"If you want to get out of this, lass, yer gonna have to make yerself totally magic, 'cause if you don't, I might just slit yer clothes off."

I looked at him. "You are perverted aren't you?"

"That's enough of yer constant gibberish." He covered my mouth with his hand. I bit him hard enough, that if he'd been human, I'd have drawn blood. But then, I had a rusty, salty taste in my mouth and realized I _had _drawn blood. The guy was human, or some kind of Overtaker.

"That wasn't wise of ye." He snarled. I screamed and ran. Finn grabbed me and we jumped into the water and swam until we caught up with a boat. We thought we were safe until the evil pirate started hopping from boat to boat.

Well, we started hopping from boat to boat and with great fortune, ran into Captain Jack Sparrow.

"Avast me hearties-" He started.

"Yeah, yeah. We've had enough pirate talk. I'm a girl; big mean pirate wants to hurt me. Go poke his eye out or something."

He looked confused. If their hadn't been the factor that some evil pirate was chasing us down to rip my clothes off, I'd have giggled like a fan girl. The robot Sparrow is modeled off of Johnnie Depp was Christ's sake!

Finn pulled me forward and we kept running, but at the last second I turned around to see the Sparrow robot sword fighting with the evil pirate. Cool.

The weird thing was, as soon as we stepped out of Pirates of the Caribbean, Finn's other clothes were back.

"Now how was that managed?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I don't know, and I truly don't care. Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. But I don't think I'll be going on that ride again any time soon." I told him.

"Yeah, me neither." He chuckled.

Later, we found the others. Maybeck looked like he'd gone under some impressive conditions and Willa was soaking wet with a shirt sleeve missing.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Finn snorted while I laughed.

"Jungle Cruise." Willa muttered. "Maybeck got mad at one of the lions and decided to wrestle it. I fell out of the boat when the Lion pounced, and a crocodile ripped off my shirt sleeve."

"But crocodiles aren't native to Florida." Charlene said.

"That obviously doesn't matter. I know the difference. And it's an animatronic during the day." Willa muttered.

"Oh yeah, right." Charlene nodded.

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**Yay! Another chapter in the 3000 words area! It still doesn't even come close to my longest chapter, but I don't care! Yeah! So, don't forget to review this chapter. (Five or more, no exceptions) And vote your little hearts out on my poll! Team Finn or Team Devlin! Yeah! PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER. Peas and Turkey (::)**

**To Frenchie (my real life bestest friend. She's the reason u guys got this chapter tonight. Y'all better say thank you to Frenchie!)**

**Le plus cher Français, j'abandonne. Mon traducteur continue à vous appeler une pomme. Je ne peux pas l'aider. Merci pour passer en revue, vous aiment aiment une soeur, et oui je sais que ma grammaire française est comme la merde.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey hey hey. Yay! Chapter 12! I want to say thank you to all of my reveiwers for last chapter. I usually tell me people at school "Oh my God, it's like pulling teeth without the novacaine, trying to get these people to review my story." But you guys made me think twice with last chapter. I also want to thank Rosie (she's moonlight447. When you know people in real life, you can call them by their real names, haha) for giving me my 5th review. It's always the first five reviewers that make my day. No offense to you late people, but they get the 5 REVIEWS thing. I'd stressed to Rosemary at school about my dislike for the hesitating reviewers, and she was kind enough to leave me the reveiw! But don't think I appreciate only those 5. I appreciate all of them, but it's like what teachers won't admit to: Favorites. I love all my reviewrs, i just love those first five a teeny weeny little bit more. So if you want my undying love, be one of the first five! Now, enough gibberish, on to chapter 12!**

**Willa POV (going crazy) *warning, slight make-out scene***

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I watched in disbelief as Alei disappeared with Finn. Holy… MERDA! I started panicking and my thoughts went into Italian, the quick fix when panicking. _Sono con Maybeck. Con MAYBECK. No, non posso essere con lui tutta la notte. Mi trasformerò in un certo robot ormonale breathless pazzesco! Curse i suoi buoni sguardi…_

He turned around a glanced at me. "Well? Are you coming?"

"Um, yeah. I'm coming."

We walked in silence. Odd. I only insulted him because I wanted him to think I hated him, even though in my normal dreams, he was the star of the show. I like Philby too, but Maybeck is so, what's the word… masculine. Philby's a gentleman and smart. If he put on some muscle and gained a few inches, he'd be a dreamboat, but for the moment, I'm more head-over-heels for Maybeck.

I used to be a Finn-girl, but I grew out of that crush, and I'm glad because he sends the sparky eyes in Alei's direction. And Amanda's, but she and Jez had been MIA for awhile, claiming they needed some solitude before jumping back into the scene. They e-mailed every now and then, but for the moment, nothing.

I looked down at my clothes and wished I hadn't worn what I was wearing. My purple t-shirt with a scoop neck. It revealed a little bit of my cleavage, but clung to my every curve, plus my jeans with the slight booty-lifter, because I'm unfortunately blessed with a pancake behind. Fortunately I was wearing a hoodie. I zipped it up, hiding my chest from Maybeck.

Maybeck was a walking hormone. He'd gotten in trouble a while back, because he ran off for a date with Jez. Of course, she wasn't evil anymore. But still, at the time, he went after the bad-girl type.

I was different than then, though. I was fourteen then, now I'm almost sixteen. I ditched the glasses, and the braces went _arrivederci_.

Maybeck walked in front of me, hands in his pockets, whistling some unknown song.

"Where do you want to start?" He called back to me.

"Um… how about the tree house?" I asked, pointing in it's direction.

"Sure." He shrugged. "Is it Tarzan or Swiss Family?"

"I think it's Swiss Family for the moment." I'll never understand why Disney can't make up their minds and make it stay either Tarzan or Swiss Family. Fickle, fickle, fickle.

It was still Swiss Family Robinson. We climbed up and walked around. We came into Mr. Robinson's study with the unlit candle. He pulled out a lighter. I raised an eyebrow.

"I use it when I need light. I don't smoke. God, you don't believe me do you?"

"No." I said shortly.

He muttered something under his breath and I rolled his eyes. He lit the candle and the room became filled with yellow light.

"What do you know. It works." He smirked.

"You lit a candle. Give the boy a prize." I said sarcastically. "But I guess that's the smartest thing you ever did, right?"

"Hee-hee-hee." He mocked me. "Isn't Willa so smart? She actually can be sarcastic."

"Of course I can. Can you?"

"I dunno. Let me think, can I be sarcastic?" He emphasized his thinking face.

"Don't be such a smart alec." I snapped.

"My name's Maybeck, not Alec." He told me.

"Whatever you say… Terry." I told him. He sent me the evil eye and I heard one of his knuckles crack.

"Call me Terry one more time, _Isabella_." He growled.

"_Terry_." I hissed. "_Terry, Terry, Terry_ Maybeck."

He was suddenly in my face, his fist raised, ready to strike. "Watch yourself, Angelo."

"Why the hell are you so touchy about your first name?" I said, finding the courage to get as much in his face as he was in mine.

His eyes glazed over then they snapped back to attention. "None of your f-ing business."

He looked into my eyes and suddenly I felt my insides melt. Uh-oh. Not the crush thing.

"What's the matter with you? Your face actually looks nice. Not all squinted up and worried."

"Uh…" came out of my word. Crap. It'd either be idiot sounds or word vomit. Get out of my head! Or at the very least, stop looking me in the eyes.

"Willa?" He asked. "Earth to Willa?"

Move! Dammit, make a connection, mouth to brain! But don't kiss! Talk! Say something sarcastic! Wait, what are you doing! Abort, abort, abort!

My mouth was on his, but I'm the one who kissed him. I looked in his eyes which were bugged and crossed, staring down at me. A furrow formed between his eyebrows and then, he did the weirdest thing! He wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me up. Whoa, what? Then even weirder, he pushed his tongue into my mouth. I'd never French kissed anyone. Tongues were strange and foreign and so far gross. Our tongues made contact and my nose wrinkled. Eeuuww. It was just gross. A sluggy, warm, moving thing and I didn't particularly enjoy that. Maybeck seemed fine with that. His hand was on the back of my head, pulling me closer. But then, after a few seconds I got used to the kiss and started participating. We kissed for like, almost a minute straight before he suddenly jerked back, panting and cursing.

"What the hell Willa?" He yelled at me.

"What?" I yelled back.

"What was that for?" He continued yelling.

I raised an eyebrow. "What was what for?"

"You know what I- oh."

"Yeah. I hit my knee and I was just resting it." I said.

"Right. So um, how's your knee?"

"The knee is fantastic." I hopped down and started moving towards the door. "Let's go over to the jungle cruise." I looked over my shoulder and smiled and then smirked as I walked in the front.

I was screaming at the top of my lungs as I watched Maybeck lunge at the lion that had been stalking our broken down boat. We'd be chugging along, peacefully, but of course there would be something that could go wrong.

The two collided and made a crashing sound.

The lion scratched Maybeck, but Maybeck wasn't affected. He was fighting as half human, half DHI. He wasn't affected by the blows dished out by the lion, but he was really pounding the crap out of that thing.

The boat was rocking back and forth dangerously, and a group of crocodiles was waiting on the receiving end for me. I was screaming and clutching to the a pole and every time the boat rocked to the left, I came dangerously close to being animatronic-food. Maybeck and the Lion were rolling around, swiping and growling. The lion pounced over Maybeck and hit the farther left side of the boat sending me dropping onto a pile of fake crocodiles who'd come to life.

I screamed and felt myself tugged under by one or more of them.

I pulled myself free very briefly. I screamed for Maybeck but he was now wrestling two lions instead of one. How had he managed that?

I heard a ripping sound and saw a crocodile with my shirtsleeve in it's mouth.

"You bastard! That shirt was twenty bucks!"

I suddenly became so mad at the crocodiles I became my complete DHI. I leaped ontop of the biggest Croc and felt like Steve Irwin for a second or two. I was Croc Queen, hear me roar.

I was sitting next to Maybeck about ten minutes later, shivering. "That was just crazy." I told him.

He nodded. "At least someday I can tell my grandchildren I wrestled two Lions at once way back when."

"I beat up like five crocodiles." I said. "Lions shmions, dude."

He laughed. "So, Jungle Cruise happened and…?"

"Tree house didn't. Deal?"

"Deal." He agreed. He grabbed my hand, shook it and when I wasn't expecting, pulled me into a quick kiss.

"What the-?" I said.

"Did you really think I was going to let you be the one to kiss me?" He snorted.

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**Heh heh heh, am I evil or am I evil? I surprised you peope didn't I? In the wise words of one of my many best friends, Mwahahahahaha! And you guys thought I'd make them hate each other. I've been secretly plotting their affection for eachother since chapter 1! Whew, glad it's out in the public. Now I don't just have to wrack my brain for arguments instead of lovey dovey things (which will NEVER happen. They're a toally private couple, aboslutely no PDA. In fact, they'll still fight and stuff but then they'll be the heart-to-heart, protective, serious item in hiding.) Actually I don't really know yet, I'm still trying to figure all this out. I'm sorry if it takes me longer to review soon, because I don't know about you Yankees, but us southerners are hitting the beaches with the ninety-some dregrees returning. This morning when I left church it was 107 dregrees. Maybe because it had been cooking in the heat, maybe because it was hot but still! 107 dregrees! And then there is the vacationing factor. School ends in a little over a real week, and I'm gone basically all of July on a road trip, so be greatful for my updates now because you'll be going longer without them soon. Sorry, I do have a life. (::)**


	13. Chapter 13

Hey you guys! Man it's been a loooonnng day. I meant to upload this chapter this morning, but due to my wonder procrastinating issue, I was busy reading my fellow readers works, but Im like a spy, I get in, I read, I get out. I'm kind of mean because I don't always leave reviews, but I usually read more finsihed products instead, so they don't need that extra UMPH like ME MYSELF AND I do to get the ball rolling. Not that in progress work isn't wonderful, it is. But usually I don't have the patience to wait for people to upload. I'm only human. I'm impatient with myself. I have Chapter 13 written completely in my notebook, but then I knock off two pages and rewrite the ending because I hate, hate, HATE copying stuff down, even stuff I've written. I want to rip my hair out, so I edit my stuff constantly so It's nice and long but I don't end up shooting myself before I can upload. So, enjoy Chapter 13!

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I was jumpy after that. Maybeck was as cool as a cucumber, not even worried about being found out. I was so worried that Bernadine would be able to tell we'd spit swapped. Something about her could sniff out chemistry between people. It was a terrifying thought, being found out. I'd acted out on hormones and faulty wiring connection in my brain. Bernadine would be jealous, because if I could see the googly eyes she gave Maybeck, everyone else could too. I would not be jealous if he liked her. I had Philby to fall back on. It sounds mean, I know. But can I help it if I'm attracted to two guys at once? No…

But back at Main street, I could see Bernadine giggling away with Ammaro. So she was googly-eyed over Ammaro for the moment. Why did I feel so relieved? Maybeck was not mine, nor was I his so… why was I so protective of his, dammit!

A few minutes later, Alei and Finn emerged. Alei looked Maybeck and I over

"What the hell happened to you two?" Finn snorted while Alei laughed.

"Jungle Cruise." I muttered. "Maybeck got mad at one of the lions and decided to wrestle it. I fell out of the boat when it pounced and a crocodile ripped off my shirt sleeve." "But crocodiles are native to Florida." Charlene said.

"That obviously doesn't matter. I know the difference. And it's an animatronic during the day." Willa muttered.

"Oh yeah, right." Charlene nodded.

I opened my eyes and sat up. Readjusting after a visit was no problem. Finn and Alei were definitely getting cozy with each other. She got this sly look in her eye whenever he came near her. No one ever imagined me noticing things their secretive about. I'm like a smart winning contestant of _Survivor_. While some go in running and screaming carrying grenades, bazookas and AK-47's (figurative of course) I crawl on my belly, slowly and surely, sneaking up on my enemy, taking them out one by one until I win. All figurative. (My enemies are good kept secrets.)

I changed into my PJS and checked the time with my phone. Just past five AM. The sun would start rising within the hour. Ick. I had cousins in Maine and knew that the sun started rising about five AM, still into the 4 o'clock hour if it was early. But for here, it was early and incredibly late at the same time.

Way later that morning, I was riding my bike, in the direction of the public Library. As a DHI celebrity, little kids wanted to crowd me all the time. So I gave the local munchkins a chance to meet me whenever they wanted on the weekends by reading to them the book of their choice. Last Sunday it was Joey Swisher's pick for this Sunday. He chose a classic: Curious George.

When I arrived, I said hello to the librarian Tabitha, who you thought of as the sweet little Grandma type, but I knew back in the 40's, she'd been a female plane pilot in WWII. One of the few. Under soft little Granny, hard core bad-ass pilot. She once showed me a picture of her and her plane _Mr. Right_. I love that plane.

In my designated reading spot was a comfy little chair, but upon my arrival, was an intruder to my no-touchy thrown. Only I was supposed to sit in that chair. _My _chair. One little girl, who'd I'd never seen before had dragged out a revision of the Kingdom Keepers book. We were all in it, but it was less violent. We were all short, stubby and eerily adorable. Same with the Overtakers, all short, stubby, cute, but with grumpy looking faces. The little girl had brown hair being held back from her face with a purple flower clip and a pale green clasp. I was always cautious around those color. Usually they screamed danger, but Maybeck couldn't leave the park. And this was a little girl. She hummed innocently.

"Hi, can I help you?" I asked her.

"Mommy just signed me up for the reading summer program. She said you'll read to me."

"You're early. It doesn't start till noon."

"Mommy said you would say that. So I'm s'posed to give this to you." She handed me a small piece of paper.

It said: _Willa Angelo, the library said you would read to my daughter, Ally. Read he the book of her choice. Grace Theiry._

Jeeze, no "Please" no "Thank you". Just one rude "read to my daughter."

Whatever, I can deal with stuck up mothers. "Okay. Today I'm reading Curious George."

Her face turned sour. "Mommy said you'd read me anything _I_ want."

I leaned down and looked her in her eye. They were bone chilling blue. Shivers. "But you're mommy was wrong. Joey picked Curious George last week. So we're reading Curious George."

She wrinkled her nose. "Fine."

After the reading, Ally Theiry was the last one standing. A tall pale girl I'm guessing to be about eighteen. She had ice blonde hair and a very prominent bone structure in her face. But even though her eye shape was different from Ally's, it was the same chilling color. She was wearing a pale purple t-shirt and jeans despite the raging ninety-some degrees.

"Gretta!" Ally ran into her arms. I had to look away from them.

"Let's get back home. Mom's waiting."

"Are you her sister?" I asked.

"I am." Gretta said without hesitation. Her creepy eyes sent a shiver down my back. Without another word, Gretta took her sister by the hand and steered her out the door to a pale green car. They left, the car just as silent as them. Weird.

I was running out of breath, only able to here the pounding of my own heart and the slam of my sneakers against the ground.

Maybeck looked up from our hiding spot and abruptly hid again as a laser shot over head and made a clean cut hole the size of a dime in the wall behind the spot Maybeck's head had been. He would have been dead no doubt about it.

"Fudge." He hissed. Actually he said something else, but it's not very nice.

"Holy crap! Is that the Buzz Lightyear laser?"

"Kind of." He looked back and then looked at me. "It's one of the bad aliens carrying one of the lasers."

"Where the hell are the good aliens?" I hissed.

He pulled out a teeny little good alien from Toy Story. It went, "Oooooo."

He shoved it back into his pocket. "That's all they do. Unfortunately they weren't designed to be battle experts."

"And the bad aliens were?" I said.

"Yep."

"Makes perfect sense." I muttered.

"Ain't it the truth…"

"Now what?" I asked. He leaned forward to the shelf in front of us and grabbed a stuffed Simba. "Use your head. Distraction." He ripped off the smiley lion's head.

"Ewr, I _like_ Simba."

Maybeck grabbed a pen, a diary, sunglasses and a board game. Then he threw each item in the opposite direction. Simba's head hit the robot, bounced off and onto the floor. The alien robot shot a laser at it. Simba go bye-bye.

Without warning, Maybeck threw one last item in another direction. The robot went after it and Maybeck took off- again without warning. I followed pursuit, terrified out of my mind.

"Maybeck! Wait, dammit! Get your sorry ass back here and rescue me!"

A laser shot past my head and singed some of my flying hair, sending me running in zig-zags, screaming. I was tackled from my right and flew to my left, Maybeck on top of me. Awkward. He rolled to the side and knocked over a tub full of stuffed animals. They all fell to cover us in a mountain of plush and Disney characters. Maybeck pulled out a matchbox and lit a few matches. He made sure not to burn any of the toys and let the smoke curl up and out of the pile. I understood after a minute or two, he wanted to confuse the alien robot into thinking we'd be annihilated.

After a second or two, the robot wandered away. I sat up and waved the smoke away. I hate smoke. With a passion.

"Well that was fun." I said to Maybeck.

"The only reason it charged us was because I stole something from it earlier. It was deactivated, so I just thought I'd swipe it's memory chip. Pretty stupid of me. Not half a nanosecond after I'd taken it, it was up and after me."

"So… it's you're freaking fault that I got my rear end almost burned to a crisp?" I snapped. "It better hold the secrets of the universe."

Philby looked ready to throw his computer against a wall. "How the fudge am I supposed to figure this out?" He said. "It's in freaking Ancient Latin. Do I look like I know freaking Ancient Latin? We use a sort of Latin Alphabet, but this is just crazy. I can't decipher this crap."

"There's no way to figure it out?" Charlene asked him.

"There's always a way, Charlie. But the most effective and effectful ways are the most risky."

"Like?"

He typed in some random letters and numbers. "What's that?" Alei asked, jumping up and down to see over the shoulders of Ammon and Maybeck.

"A few years ago, I accidentally broke through the FBI's master firewall- don't ask me how I did it, it's still a semi-mystery- and with a few keyboard tricks and something I like to call the Ninja-"

But before Philby could fully explain, Ammon said the most words I'd ever heard come out of his mouth at the same time. "Holy crap, you have Ninja technology? I'd die to get a hold of that jackpot, dude!"

Since when Did Ammon say more than five words at a time, let alone "crap" and "dude"?

"Yeah, I do. You've heard of it?"

"Damn straight I've heard of it. How did you manage to get a hold of it?" Ammon had changed personalities as fast as I changed my opinion of Maybeck- well, no, that didn't quite work out seeing as I'd always like Maybeck, but I wasn't willing to admit that to myself.

"Completely by accident. As I was saying- I can break into any X-file that belongs to the FBI. Completely undetected. And I can download the soft wear needed to decode this stupid code." Ammon pushed his way next to him and as we all wandered away, I smiled to myself. Ammon just made the first move to poking out of his shell.

Two hours later, Ammon was taking a brake by sitting alone at a table with Nadeah. They were so cute together and very secretive. She took his hand and he raised hers to his lips. She giggled insanely. I walked up to Philby and watched as he struggled with numbers and access codes and passwords.

"So…"

"This is really hard." He told me. "Do me a favor… hit the enter, shift, alter, and F12 button all right… now!" Without pausing I did so. And with great difficulty.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "We're in. I hacked into their main server. Now… to do some downloading." He smiled at me.

"What the hell!" He shouted. "More fudge-ing gibberish!"

"Language, language, Philby."

"I work my gluteus off to hack into this fudge-ing server and all I get after downloading the software is another fudge-ing code to decipher! I'm tired, I'm going home and going to fudge-ing bed." He shoved his computer into his bag and threw the bag over his shoulder and picked up the black button. Muttering to himself and he grabbed my hand and Alei's hand. We grabbed other peoples hands and after we'd all joined hands he hit the button.

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**Hello... so, am I the only one who imagines Nadeah and Ammon as the PERFECT couple? Maybe because in my mind he's like an egyptian, asian-y cute guy with long hair and glasses hiding his good looking features. Mix raced? Just like Nadeah! Let me know what you think of them! -Lizzy (-::-) Review, peas and turkey! Love the review button! Love it I say! But not too much, cuz that's creepy.**


	14. Auhtors Note

**Hey guys, I know your not going to like this, but I'm suffering from some writers block with Storybook Nightmare and as hard as this may be to take, I'm going to put the writing process of this story on hold while I explore some other options. I vowed not to write other stories until Storybook Nightmare is done (which it almost is) but I need some space and have decided it's the best for my sanity as an author to take some time off from this. I've tossed other ideas for stories over my shoulder because I was so intent on writing this story, but I'm pretty sure you have it in your hearts to let go for awhile until I can breathe easier, sit down and rejoin the world of Kingdom Keepers. And if you don't… well that's just too bad. Be mad, kick a wall, throw a shoe, whatever, I just need so time off. I've been trying and trying to write chapter 14, and I have my ideas, im just a little bored for now, but don't worry, I WILL finish this. I'll keep my promise to finish it, just not right away. Hugs and kisses- Liz **


	15. Chapter 15

**I'M BACK! Yes, after 56 torturous days for both you and I, I have managed to come up with a chapter none of you were expecting. (Trust me, it was on the spot, "I'm gonna fool them! Teehee" kind of stuff) It's not real long, partially because it's 134 in the morning and im seriously tired, but it cant wait. My horrible, horrible twin has decided the computer is his for the entire day. He has a warped mind. I wish every day we were identical twins instead of fraternal twins.**

**Anyhoo, I hope you guys like this chapter. Its 55 days in the mind, an hour or two in the works. I was thinking about making this longer, but i suddenly have an incredible headache brought on by said twin brother. The Kingdom Keepers fanfic archives has really blossomed. But I noice I'm still queen of reviews. That makes Lizzy verrrrry happy. 56 days, and Im still on top. I a mentaly doing the happy dance right now. So, read the chapter!**

**This does NOT belong to me. All original ideas and characters belong to Ridley Pearson. I wish I owned it, but alas, I do not. So read the stinking chapter!**

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Alei

I woke up to Francesca screaming at the top of her lungs. I cracked one eye. I wasn't alarmed. Francesca would scream at the top of her lungs if she chipped a nail. Now if she found someone burglarizing the house (which I highly doubt would ever happen, thanks to Charlese) she'd probably be so terrified, she squeak and fall into a coma.

But no, she was screaming like a newborn. I grumbled as I tore at my incredibly comfortable cocoon. My mother had the AC cranked up because it was getting hotter and hotter. I yanked open my door and screamed downstairs, "Hey! Someone shut her up, I'm trying to get some freaking shut eye!"

The nights were stressful now. Philby was on the verge of committing suicide, we were all sure of it. Every single time he cracked one code, there was yet another glorious thing needing deciphering. It was funny sometimes, because Philby has this tick in his right eye, so it twitches whenever he gets super frustrated. But nowadays, it's been twitching so much, we've thought about taking him to the ER because it gets so bad. Sometimes, Ammon, the wonder boy, took over and let Philby get some rest. Nadeah would go nuts over it and we all saw Ammon the way we'd never seen him before. He actually took his hair out of the little not he kept it in and once took off his glasses. He might have been short, but those big clunky glasses of his were hiding a pretty attractive face. Nadeah was going crazy. She was totally in love with the guy. I asked her what he'd done to have her tripping over her own feet.

"I think he is just so romantic. The other night when we were out on patrol, he was just a dreamboat. He did not say much, we all know he never does, but the way he studied the water and looked at the stars."

"Have you kissed him yet?" Charlene teased.

Nadeah's skin turned bright pink. "What- oh no, no, no! Well, maybe…"

"Oo lala." Bernadine said. Nothing more romantic than kissing by a lake under the stars. "It's like Lady and the Tramp." She giggled and started singing in a mock-Italian accent. "This is the night, the most beautiful night!" I grabbed her hands and we started dancing around Nadeah, singing while Willa and Charlene made kissy faces at Nadeah.

"Be quiet! The boys might here you!" Nadeah squeaked. "I don't want Ammon knowing how much I like him."

Willa, the wise Italian clucked her tongue. "I don't suggest hiding that kind of thing. Let lose your heart and see where it gets you. I finally acted on the guy I like and I've never been happier."

"I'll bet it's Maybeck." Charlene pinched Willa's cheeks. "My wittle Willa it gwowing up!"

"It is _not _Maybeck. It's a guy I know from the real world, where you nuts are not welcome. You'd give my poor old _Nonna_, a heart attack. She's living with us now." She told Charlene. "Now that _Nonno _will be attending the early bird special in the sky. Don't make _Nonna_ join him yet."

"Us, scare her? How?" Bernadine flipped her braid back and looked over appreciating as Amaro lifted a big box. Eeuuww.

"Well, not really them, more like… you. All rough and scary looking."

"Entschuldigen Sie mich?" She said. "Don't go there. I'm very nice and my Grandmother likes me. What makes you think your won't?"

"My _Nonna_ is five foot two and only can ask you where the bathroom is and count to ten in English. Your Grandmother is used to you."

Bernadine considered this. "Yeah, well, um… good point."

Willa smirked. "So, Alei, how's the competition with the boys? They punching each over you yet?"

"No they're not. Yet." I smiled.

Now I stood at the top of my stairs, trying to figure out why my sister was screaming.

I saw a figure walk into the room. I stood up a little straighter. "Devlin! What are you doing here? At my house? At eight o'clock in the morning?"

He smiled, looking as scrumptious as ever in jeans and a t-shirt. "Well, I told my mum that I wanted to go to Magic Kingdom with a friend today so she called in and said you and I would be coming. I planned for a friend from school, but she's got this thing, hoping I ask you out. So… Magic Kingdom?"

I'd be crazy not to. I'd be crazy if I did.

"Um… sure." Call me crazy.

Ten minutes later, Francesca watched in pure outrage as I walked out the door with a (technically) celebrity. I made sure to wear my white t-shirt with the pinkish red beads in the shape of a flower. I had it tied in a knot at my hip and some majorly short jeans. Good thing it was hot out. I had a mixture of disguises, including a blonde wig that was mussed up all the down to my back, but I had it twisted up into a knot. He simply wore fake glasses and a jet black wig I kept for boys. Don't ask questions, I just do.

The thermometer read 101. Jeeze. O. Pete. Arriving at the Magic Kingdom, I saw lots of families. Almost all of them fanning themselves with park maps or cheap little fans sold during heat waves. I was wearing a wig, so unfortunately I knew my hair which smelled of tropical coconuts would soon smell like sweaty coconuts. We had our DHI passes on, so we could go dang well wherever we pleased.

Suddenly we turned a corner and I saw the rest of the DHIs. All in disguise of course, but I could tell.

"What's going on?" I muttered.

"Someone came up with a plan."

"Philby is quite the genius." I said.

"Of course, but it wasn't Philby." The others raised there eyebrows at my blonde get up. I was a dark haired girl. Girls like us don't go blonde.

"Finn then." I said, spotting him in Rays hat and sunglasses.

"Nope." We arrived at the group.

"Who then?" I asked, confused. Finn was like our leader, and Philby was the group know-it-all.

"It was me." Said a tall boy I didn't recognize for a moment. Then I spotted his eyes. Large, brown, puppy dog eyes. Ammon?

"Ammon. Came up with the plan?" My eyes scanned up and down. He had his feet placed firmly on the ground, and he was still huge. Larger than Maybeck. And Maybeck is _big._ He looked totally different! His hair was actually a pale brown or very, very dark blonde and Nadeah had her arms around him like he was a Greek God.

"Yes, I did. Surprised?"

"Um, yeah… great disguise."

"Disguise? Ha, this is what I really look like. My name is the same, but Disney was paying me a little extra to go around looking like that. They didn't want me talking much, they wanted me playing the itsy bitsy nerd. But they said recently, it's time to wip out the _Ammon_- or, secret weapon."

Whoa!

Nadeah was in a dreamy state as we marched down a hallway. I'm pretty sure she was in a pretty good mood. Her little puppy dog just turned into a full grown Great Dane. It was hard not to be impressed. Ammon talked all things technology. Even some things Philby didn't know, which made him red with fury. We suddenly came to the control room.

I'd seen this on TV once. This controlled everything. Lights, sounds, and stuff.

Ammon, in all his new hunky glory eased open a door I figured out was no-access, even to us. It was creepy. More computers, and some TV screens.

"So, how did you manage to look three feet tall when you look very close to six?"

He smiled. "A magician never reveals his secret."

"Disney paid you to hunch over?"

"A lot of money." He nodded.

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**Can I write or can I write? Like what I did with Ammon? I knew he was going to be my late bloomer, i just didn't know how. I have to go, my brother is being a real pain in my ass. I told you he was annoying!**


	16. Chapter 155

**Hi!**

**First off, i have to apologize for making you guys wait so long. I really am sorry. More than you will ever know. But with school back in session, i've been taking classes that could get me a scholarship, so i've been studying religiously. You guys know i'd never abandon you. I love you almost as much as my family and my school sisters (trust me, we treat each other like sisters. You know who you are guys, LOVE YOU!) So i love you pretty dang much.**

**Second off, I'd like to announce i worked the hardest on the maneuvering of this chapter. Some of you might like it, some of you might scratch your chins and go "Uh huh, i see." This is also the longest chapter I've written- at least i think it is- so, y'know, enjoy.**

**Third off, I'm making some changes. No more FIVE reviews. I'm pushing it. Fifteen! The queen of Kingdom Keepers fanfic (for this sight) would really like it if she got a few more reviews. I didn't update for a whole month and i got fiteen reviews. Review people, review! Peas? And turkey! Thanks a bunch.**

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The new an improved Ammon slid into a chair. "Maybeck, Philby, Amaro, Finn and Devlin, I need you to block the door and watch out for any security guards. I've known about this place awhile. It's basically the secret DHI headquarters. It tracks your progress on defeating the Overtakers, and it's kinda creepy, but did you guys know the ONLY time you aren't being watched is during calls of nature and when you're bathing? Even when we sleep, they watch us to make sure nothing happens to our bodies. They have files on us. All of us, even Finn's friend Aman-"

Finn covered his mouth and hissed "Shut up!" He glanced over at me and smiled.

"A man? That's not creepy at all." Bernadine teased and flipped her braid over her shoulder.

"Um, private tutor, issued by Disney. I really, _really _suck at math."

"Okay." I deeply doubted it, but whatever.

Finn, Devlin and Maybeck all stood by the door, looking mean, and us girls leaned over Ammon's shoulder. Nadeah all gave us the stink eye. We couldn't blame her. She has a heart of gold until she decided otherwise. How else would she have fallen for a would-be puppy dog like Ammon who actually was like, woof, king of the dog park.

"Now, let's just jam this annoying little tracker on us." He opened a file and I could tell it was a map of the underground of magic kingdom. There were several blinking dots. Cherry Red. Someone should have been in here probably, but they weren't. "I put some trackers in different people's pockets, mostly couples, because they know we're here as pairs." He pressed a few buttons and presto, the red dots were going crazy. The new so called DHIs were on rides or walking around the park. "Excellent."

"Where are our trackers, because I've never exactly seen some kind of blinky medal thing in a place it shouldn't be."

"Do you remember the shot we got when we first became DHIs? Microscopic trackers in our bloodstream. Very sci-fi based technology."

"It's so weird." Amaro muttered. "When I was little, Disney for me was all 'Zipidee Doo Da' now it's creepy stalking technology."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Charlene held up a hand. "_You _were _little _once? What kind of sick world am I living in that everything I know is a lie?" She mock cried.

"Ha, ha, ha. Did I also mention I was born four pounds, seven ounces?"

"Liar! You lie!" Charlene pointed a finger at him. "No way you were that small once. Nope. Nuh-uh."

"Yeah. Just like you're not a natural red-head."

Everything in the room stopped to look at Charlene, who's eyes were larger than the globe at Epcot.

"You- how- where? No! I haven't been a red-head since I was eight years old."

I watched her for a grand total of five seconds before my side started to hurt from the explosion of laughter coming from my mouth. Everyone joined in.

"Shut up!" Charlene snapped. "Being a red-head was not for me. I just didn't feel like a red-head. So I went brunette- nope. I dyed my hair black. Definitely not for me. So I went blonde. More me."

Maybeck raised an eyebrow. "Yeah right. That explains why you snap at every other thing someone says. There's a red-head underneath all those blonde jokes I've been cracking behind your back."

"What?" Charlene said, sitting up taller. "You've been what-?"

"Don't worry, you're not a natural blonde, so everything cancels out."

Charlene narrowed her eyes. "You didn't know that."

"Well, I guess… your not stupid." He muttered.

"That makes me feel so much better!" Charlene shoved off her post on the table she'd been sitting on and left the room.

Amaro looked at Maybeck. "Dude. Don't tell a girl that. How clueless are you?" Bernadine grinned from ear-to-ear. She was mentally high-fiving herself for getting herself a good guy.

I thought about poor Charlene. Nadeah had Ammon, Bernadine had Amaro, Willa had Maybeck, and I sort of had Finn and Devlin. Then I looked over at Philby. Jackpot. He didn't really have anyone.

Ammon pulled something up. "Got it!"

"What?" I asked looking over at him.

"It's what happened to Malevolence. She's trapped inside the Disney Computer system. It's the reason that so many things have been breaking down."

"What are you talking about?" Nadeah asked. "Everything's fine."

Ammon brought up a window. "This is a maintenance list. See all this?"

Nadeah read some of the things off. "Food processor, trash compactor, the Barnstormer's been broken down for two days? Seriously? You'd have thought-"

"Yeah. All of this is Malevolence. She has certain control over certain things. It's a nuisance, but they'd rather her be in there, than out here. I've been working on it."

Philby looked like he just hit oil. "Well, since she can't come out here. We can go in there. We are mostly computer server during sleep. We go in there. We take her out."

"Yeah, because I totally haven't thought of that yet. Did I tell you I'm a certified genius? You're not. I am. Figure it out."

Aww. Turns out the oil was just a bunch of rocks. Poor Philby.

"No need to be cruel." Philby muttered. I looked over at Ammon who was busy typing away. Nadeah had her hand on his shoulder as she looked on.

Devlin looked around, and walked over to me. He nodded to the door. "How about we put the disguises back on and go catch some lunch. We could go back to the Haunted Mansion and help Sally. She…."

"Would have to be tied and gagged before we could get her out of there. Sally is important, but she's going to have to wait until the Overtakers are nothing but cartoon characters in movies from '30's and the '40's." I tucked my hair into my wig and slipped on my sunglasses. "Let's go. I'm starved."

I watched the people walk by. I had a pineapple float at my hands. I hadn't had one yet, but it was pretty good, if you mixed the pineapple juice with the ice-cream. The thermometer red just over one hundred degrees. I love Florida. It's my home state, I was born here, but why did it have to be so hot? I have a high tolerance for heat, but every girl has her limits.

"Where do you want to look?" I asked.

"Actually, I was planning we sneak around for a little bit. The underground. Or we can go to Hollywood Studios. I think they're might be something there we can sniff around."

"Ditch the others?" I looked at him over my sunglasses. "You're serious."

"Dead serious." He twirled his straw around in his float. "I think more progress could be made if we were in groups instead of breathing down each other's necks."

"And you want to go with me." I gave him my one hundred watt smile. Charlese had taken me to the dentist the day before to get my teeth whitened.

"Sure. I like you."

I don't know if it was my fault because I had taken a huge sip from the float or not, but I started choking on pineapple float. I banged my fist against my throat until I coughed the ice cream back up. "What?" I sounded like a frog.

"I like you." Devlin looked at me. "I thought you'd figured that out already."

He liked me. He liked me! I was doing cartwheel's in my head. Yes! Mine! Score! Hahaha! Take that fan girls! I was about to start screaming and doing back flips.

"Really? Cool. I kinda like you too." Mental. Only mental.

"Okay. Awesome, let's go then." I followed after him, grinning to myself.

We arrived to the underground of Hollywood studios. Much more complex than Magic Kingdom. We snuck around together.

"You know, now that we're here. This is kinda of stupid. We should have brought a computer geek."

"Should have brought Philby. Raise his self esteem. Ammon made Philby feel two inches tall."

"I noticed." Devlin muttered. "But I say let Ammon bask in his new found glory. Nadeah look's like she's kissing the ground he walks on."

"Yeah, she wants to kiss him. She's got it bad."

"Seriously?" He asked, looking around the corner cautiously.

"Totally. She acts all sweet and innocent. But behind every sweet and innocent goodie-goodie, is a girl who want s to get kissed as much as the next girl."

"How…. Um… sweet?" Devlin asked.

I mentally kicked myself. "What was I thinking? You're a dude. Guy's don't get it that much."

He turned around. "Excuse me, Alei, I'm Irish. I'm a sentimental kind of guy."

"Yeah. Sure." I walked forward and found a door. "Looks like we found the heart of main control. I'm no certified genius, but I think I could figure this out."

"Yeah. A sentimental Irishman, and some hard core girl pretending to be blonde." He twirled a piece of my blonde wig around his index finger.

"Well. I am a hard core girl pretending to be blonde. Not so sure about you." I tossed him a smile as I pressed my ear against the door. Nothing. I pulled out my hair clip and started fiddling with the lock.

"I don't think that will work. They probably have the best security in the world. A prehistoric trick like that?"

The lock clicked. I felt pretty smug. "It always works. Don't mess with me."

I eased the door open. Security room. Excellent.

"How could it be empty?" Devlin muttered.

"Do I look like I should know this?" I motioned to myself. "I've been with you all day."

"True. Probably a coffee break." He barricaded the door. "I'm sure there's more security rooms."

"I guess. Hey, check this out! It's us. Not creepy at all." I swung into the big chair and inspected the computer screen. It was actually me. It was me, only looked really, really odd. My hair was yanked back into a bun so tight it looked like I'd just gotten botox. My arms were spread out and my expression was blank. My torso was made up of a pattern like blue-print.

"That's weird. Do they have the others."

I scrolled through the others. It was crazy. Willa had her glasses on with her curly hair, Charlene had red-hair and they'd chopped off Devlin's hair.

"My hair!" He grabbed his head, as if to console himself that he still had it.

"What is this? Are we supposed to be in our natural states? Willa without the cosmetics, and Charlene with the red hair?"

"Me with no hair." He pouted.

"You still have hair! They just cut it."

He smoother his hair. "I like my hair the way it is. I don't need Disney World to tell me it should be shorter."

I decided to tease him. "Are you kidding? You look ten times better. I didn't know you had a forehead."

"Nope, under my hairline is my naked skull, and you can actually see my brain."

"Fascinating. But still, you should cut your hair. It's really cute."

He patted his hair. "Maybe I'll have it trimmed."

"Yeah, trimmed. Okay. Who's this guy?" It was an old guy, with snow white hair and ice blue eyes. He looked tired.

"Um… Finn told me about him. That's Wayne. He's been missing."

"Terrific, another missing person." I muttered.

He shrugged. "What is this."

"This says CDHI's. It has a layout of all four parks. See?" I pointed to the maps.

"Hhm. Click on your person avatar-thing."

I clicked on it and and it blinked. And it spoke in my voice_._ _My_ voice.

"Greetings. I am CDHI Alei. Tour the virtual parks?" It said and blinked again.

"Cool." Devlin said.

"Yeah, if you think creepy alikeness is cool." I watched as my skills and attributes were listed.

"Walk me around the Magic Kingdom to see what I see at night. Only available when I'm asleep. Current status: Awake."

"When Ammon said they were keeping tabs on us, he meant it." He muttered.

"So. When I'm asleep, they're watching me?" I found this extremely disturbing.

"It has records on what we do at night." Devlin switched to his own character and tried accessing his records.

His character blinked and said in the robotic way, "If you wish to access my records when I'm awake, you'll need to know something only I and the Imagineers know about me: What was my first pet, and what was its name?"

Devlin grinned. "My rabbit, Snuffles." He spoke into the mike.

The CDHI blinked. "That is correct. How old was I when I got him?"

"My seventh birthday. My grandmother gave him to me."

"Correct. Welcome to Devlin access files." A long, long, _long _list of videos, pictures and audio recordings.

"This is just great. They spy on us 24/7." He muttered.

"Creeptastic, isn't it?" I smiled at him sarcastically.

"I wonder if I can delete certain things on this."

"Um… I don't want to know."

"Nothing weird. Just dates. Kisses. Certain conversations with friends. What's it to you? You're not jealous are you, Alei?"

Yes. Depserately yes. "No. You're not my type." Yes he is. "I dig musicians."

"I play the piano." He murmured. What? Not the guitar?

"Did I say musician? I meant athlete." I lied.

"Soccer." He shrugged and smiled at me. "You like me."

"No I don't." I insisted. I am Alei Annamarie Beuchenn. I admit my feelings to no one… Finn was the exception. Devlin was a possible exception. I just had to think about it.

_Yeah, right. You want to make out with him like a monkey wants a banana. _

Shut UP hormones! Jeeze, do they ever leave me alone? No, of course not, they want to be the boss of me. And I let them. I'm pathetic.

"Yes you do. I'll get it out of you soon. I got more important things to worry about right now."

Meep.

We went through all of our files.

Then suddenly, I heard footsteps. I grabbed his arm. "Dude, stop making Maybeck hit himself. Do you hear that?"

He let go of the mouse and listened. "Shit. Is that security?"

"I hope not."

"We're barricaded in."

"They can't get in. But we cannot get out. We're going to get caught." I said. "If we don't leave right-"

The handle twisted a few times and someone knocked on the door.

"Crap!" Devlin hissed.

"Hey? Who's in there?" A man's voice shouted. "What's your badge number?"

Devlin sucked at American accents, so I dramatically deepened my voice. "Um, uh, badge number 220752351?"

"That can't be a badge number. That's _my _badge number. Who's is in there? I demand you tell me!"

Irony sucks.

"Air vents!" Devlin pointed.

"Yeah, brilliant idea, let me just skidoodle past the guard out there so I can get a screw driver to crack that bad boy open!"

"Finn taught me to morph into DHI state while still awake. We do that, we get into the air vents without getting caught."

"Now long is that going to take to perfect?" I asked placing my hands on my hips. "Because I think we have t-minus five minutes before he shoots the hinges off the door."

"It depends. How fast a learner are you?"

"I get straight B's. Does that mean anything?" I asked.

Thank God it did, because as soon as I perfected Finn's little trick, we were crawling through the air vent, and I had a pleasant view of Devlin's jean-clad behind. Not. I prefer far away rear-admiring, not a distance of six inches.

"So help me God Devlin if you pass gas in here." I muttered.

"I shouldn't have had the chili-cheese dog for lunch should I?" He joked. I gave him a negative twelve degrees stare. "I'm kidding, Alei! I have more class than that. You know that right?"

"I'm just going to hang back another three feet or so." I told him.

"You do that. Or you can head up here so we don't lose each other."

"Who wants to look at who's butt now?" I teased him rather smugly. "You told me you like me. I'm not feeding the crave, dude." But I wanted to. Man oh man, did I want to.

We reached a fork.

"Which way, which way?" I sang. He looked between both. He leaned into both vents. "There's air coming from this one. Fan's that way. So we go this way." He pointed in the vent that wasn't blowing air.

"Okay. If you say so Sherlock."

I found him and then with a sudden yelp, we started sliding and skidding. I grabbed onto his arm as we fell down the tunnel. I hit my head and screamed. He held me so I didn't hit my head again and we skidded to a knee-skinning stop. Ouch.

"Are you okay?" He asked me with concern in his eyes.

"Am I bleeding?" I asked him.

"Nope. Your head is fine. I don't think I can say the same for your poor knees though."

My knees were skinned so completely, they oozed seering pain and blood.

"Owww. I haven't messed up a knee this bad since I was little."

"You can't crawl on those." He muttered. "Good thing I brought my phone. Call the guys. Get out of here."

"Okay, but how are they going to reach us?" You know when you shave your legs and you cut them really bad? Ever noticed it's not until you fine the scratch that the cut actually starts to burn and you want to cry? Yeah, well, I felt the burn a heck of a lot worse once I looked at my knees good and long. I but my lip to hold back the tears.

"I don't know. They'll find us eventually. I mean, we could go to sleep and tell them where we are."

"That's a good idea. How about I stay here, and you go on. My knees will be just as skinned as a DHI as they are when I'm in the flesh and blood."

"Got that right. Alright. I'm going in." He grinned at me.

An hour later, I had his limp sleeping body propped against th wall and had ripped off my sleeves to stop the bleeding in my knees. When I got home, Charlese was going to drown them in alcohol, but you know, I'd rather feel like they were being dipped in acid than practically feel them becoming infected.

I messed with his hair and inspected his forehead. I always thought he hid his forehead because it was more of a five-head or covered with acne. Of course not. He had a normal forehead with baby soft skin. A perfect forehead, just like everything else about him. Hmm. Of course his forehead was perfect, even though he hid it from the world. Selfish, selfish Devlin.

It was forty five more minutes before he started to stir. I had almost fallen asleep myself. He groaned and rubbed at his head. He looked at me and my knees. "That was fun." He murmured.

"So? Are they coming? What's going to happen? What do we do?"

"They're on their way. I got chewed out by everyone, and Bernadine told me to smack you upside your head for her. Then I told them you hadn't come along because you were injured. Then she took it back."

"Oh, how sweet. That makes this beautifully painful injury so much better, knowing she took back her order to slap my face."

"It does, doesn't it?" He patted my shoulder.

"So, um, what now?" I asked him. He grinned at me and started leaning forward.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What're you up to, kissy face?"

"Taking advantage of your injury. You'd be crawling away at the speed of light if it weren't for this miracle that was provided to me."

"Back off. I got arms." I held them up, trying to appear threatening.

"And so do I." He pinned my arms down and touched his lips to mine.

Okay. I've been kissed before. Finn was- up to this moment- the best kiss I'd had. Then Devlin kissed me.

I saw fireworks and sparkles and doves being released form their cages. I heard the angels singing and my head spun. Whatever happened during the perfect kiss- it happened to me. It wasn't the vicious game of tonsil hockey I'd had with Finn. This was more sweet, but it affected me more. With Finn, I'd been the firework. But I think watching the fireworks with who you were kissing is much more romantic.

I twirled my fingers in his long dark hair. "Um. Wow?" I said breathlessly.

"Told you you'd like me too." He teased.

"I will never doubt you again." I grinned dreamily.

"I thought so. So, want to prove yourself wrong again?" He asked me.

"More than anything." Back to the fireworks!

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**Heehee heehee. I took your demands and turned them into a reality. Devlin and Alei kiss! Your welcome. Now it's YOUR turn to turn MY demands into a reality. I want those fifteen reviews. I may take a little while to write the next chapter, because of school, but the sooner i have fifteen reviews the sooner you have another chapter. More Devlin/Alei smoochy smooch. There's your motivation. NOW I WANT THOSE FIFTEEN REVIEWS! peas and turkey.**


	17. Chapter 17

***Creeps into room slowly, covering face* Hiiiii, there. Remember me? Still love me? You sure? Okay then... it's me, still trying to make a recovery. I've had a major issue with writers block on this one, because my brain INSISTS that i start working on some other fanfictions. You don't know how hard it's been for me to write this chapter. I wrote it, hated it, deleted, started over again, hated that one too, deleted, started over AGAIN, and the cycle kept going on and on and on until i finally ended up here. This chapter is more or less my "Christmas special" i guess you could say. It's the Holidays, so why not? It has a serious tone to it for a little bit, but don't worry, it gets better. Enjoy!**

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I didn't want to go. I did not want to go. But I had to go, and I hated myself for it. The stupid Christmas in July Dance was something I hated attending, but my mother would rather gnaw off her own foot before she faced the girls from her brunch club and had to admit her "misfit" daughter- that would be _moi- _didn't attend a social event. It was one of the important Summer Events. Once a year, in July, the hottest month in Florida, the teenagers in our neighborhood are expected to bundle up like it's forty degrees out (and trust me when I say, in Florida, forty degrees is _cold_) even though it's freaking hot, and we get crammed into the country club and they turn the temperature to forty degrees, so really, we're a bunch of teenagers, all of us born and raised Floridians- dressed up like we're partying at the Hilton, and huddling like penguins in the Artic.

I don't know who's bright idea it was to have a bunch of kids who are used to being warmed by the sun shoved into a room and having the AC cranked up, and all knowledge of warmth vaporized on the spot.

And it was necessary to bring a date. A date! Me! Of course, I would be scrutinized, judged, and evaluated by my choice of dates. Francesca had her fingers crossed, probably her toes, and at the moment, I was desperately hoping she was being a Freak-cesca and not just crossing her legs because she seriously I had to pee.

"So, did you get a date, Alei?" She asked. I knew who she wanted. Casper Don. Blech. The product of worms and vomit going out on a date, getting drunk, and getting to know each other very well. Because I know no one in their right mind would want to make a Casper Don. Unless you were a drunk worm and a drunk pile of a vomit. And I met his parents. They were. Just less gross looking.

"Yeah. He'll be there." I yawned and covered my mouth with my hand. I'd asked him very nicely to come with me, and when he tried mumbling that he was busy and had other plans, I just grabbed his arm and insisted that he owed it to me, so I told him to tell his mom to drive him to the country club, and to be sure that he arrived looking his most scrumptious. I was hoping he would, because I wanted Casper to try and keep his perverted little paws away from me if he saw me dancing with my date. And I also wanted those snooty **bleep**s to know they could take their **bleep**ing remarks about me and how I couldn't get a **bleep**ing date with anyone slightly attractive. Alei kept saying how she planned on wooing Casper away from his date. Who says wooing? What was this? The twentieth century?

We arrived at the country club, and they decked it out to make it look like Christmas. I like to believe the real reason they do the stupid thing was because their Christmas deco cost everyone their first born son and left eye, so they pulled them out twice a year so they could be appreciated more by the first born sonless and the left eye-less. The front door was lit up with twinkling white lights, and I caught the car waiting in the street for me. Francesca got out, gathering up her white silk dress and white fur coat. She patted hr curls and smirked at me. "Where's your date now, Alison? Still locked up in that freakish mind of yours?" She laughed at herself and I just wanted to grab her by her fur coat and tell her that Casper wanted to score her as much as Captain Hook wanted to be eaten by the crocodile. I just raised an eyebrow at her and watched her go.

I walked over to the car and he got out. He smiled at me and bent down to kiss me hello. I tried to be serious, but like all of our kisses turned into, we both ended up laughing at it. I was testing the waters with this one, just like the other one. I was the goldilocks of men. Or you could call me other things, but it's not like I was serious about one and just teasing the other one.

"Don't you look- Christmas-y." He said.

I took a step back and pursed my lips and gripped his dark red silk shirt. "What on earth is this? Is this silk? My, my, the boy's got class."

"My Mother forced me into it." He said between gritted teeth. "I hate the damn thing. I'm going to be freezing in it!"

"No jacket?" I asked.

"No." He said. His mom honked the horn as she drove away and we both waved back briefly.

"Oh, well, we'll just huddle close to each other like some poor little penguins."

"I like penguins." He grinned.

"As do I. Penguins and I share some interests- the beach, a sea food, swimming, bubbles-"

"Bubbles? How do you know penguins like bubbles?"

"We went to the Florida Aquarium and only because I begged, we went to go see the Penguins back stage and got to see them eat fish."

"And this has to do with bubbles how-?" He asked.

"I'm not going to explain it! Penguins like bubbles, and so do I! So there!"

Later, a massive group of teenagers huddled like said penguins. The room was decorated with fifteen foot tall Christmas trees, a bunch of white lights, some snow flakes, and Christmas music came from hidden speakers.

"I hate the cold." I nearly screamed. I hated the cold. The cold could rot in hell for all I cared. Contradicting, I know, but I didn't care. All I knew at the moment was that I was cold, and my date's silk shirt seemed to trap in cold and he offered no warmth.

"Why did you wear silk? It's impractical for cold weather." I growled when he tried hugging the warmth into me.

"Actually, they have the AC cranked up really, really, high." He reminded me. "This is not weather, just a bunch of monkeys playing with a thermostat."

"Monkeys are stupid! Now we're all frozen little penguins. I want to leave." I hung my head pitifully.

"Do you have a license?" He asked.

"No. I don't have a car either. So even if I did have a license, I couldn't drive."

"Do you have super powers so you can run home really, really fast?"

"No, do I look like Twilight's wrong and oddly twisted image of vampire?"

"Do you sparkle?"

"Just because I have a somewhat love of sparkles, does not mean I actually WANT to sparkle, so no, I do not."

"Then you're staying here penguin-girl. Let's dance."

We danced. I liked to dance. Most of the girls stood in circles, whispering behind their hands, watching us. I had been right, my date beat all of theirs, and I could see Casper Don watching from his small and elite group of either the lucky winners of the gene pool, or the boys who smuggled their no-no-things like…. bad no-no-things.

But then the music went to slow, and I felt my face heat when we started simply swaying back and forth. All of the other couples did. I noticed that my sister did end up with Casper and her face was blissfully satisfied, but Casper's eyes were on me when he turned to face me and my date.

I kept my attention on my date, and not on my sister's.

"This is actually kind of nice." I said in surprise.

"You're surprised by my incredibly amazing dancing abilities." He murmured, watching other couples simply turn in circles.

"Well, I'm not going to rip my clothes off and give myself to you as a virgin sacrifice fan-girl, but you're not bad."

"Awww, too bad. I was looking forward to the sacrifice." He teased.

"Whoa, buddy boy, slow your roll. None of that." I tried to sound threatening, but I was much too calm, with his arms holding me up.

"Well, isn't this sweet." I heard a sour voice suddenly interrupt my dreamy haze. I blinked rapidly and turned to stare at Casper.

"Oh God, go away! I found a date, now go find your freaking own!" I snapped at him.

"Well, you're rude. Hopefully your date is actually a gentleman. Mind if I have one dance with her?

_Say yes, say yes, I brought you on this damn date, I didn't have too!_

"Actually, I do mind. Who are you?"

"My name is Casper Don. Alison and I have a bit of history." He grinned and held out his hand.

"Casper, the only history I have with you is when you tried to kiss me in the second grade and I shoved your face into a sandbox." I said. "Now go away."

"Actually, Alei, I need to go to the bathroom, so if you don't mind…" My date pulled away and walked off. WTF?

Casper took his opportunity and swept in. "Finally, the things were meant to be."

"Casper, if you don't get away from me right this instant, I swear to God I will take your nuts, rip them off of your body, and roast them on an open fire, just like the tiny little chestnuts they are. Then, I can shove them down your throat and sing Kumbaya while you cry yourself to sleep. Just like you do every night because you wallow in self pity because everybody hates you!"

"Someone's got a sharp tongue this evening." He grinned nastily.

"Someone's screaming, my Lord, Kumbaya; oh it's Casper my Lord, Kumbaya; I roasted his nuts, My Lord, Kumbaya, He got on my nerves, My Lord, Kumbaya, so I ripped them off, Kumbaya…." I sang in my angelic voice.

"You want to touch me down there? Well, well, where's our privacy?"

I gritted my teeth. "Casper, the world could be on fire, and all of the bubble-loving penguins could be at risk- oh, no, scratch that, I love the bubble-loving penguins- anyways, the world could be on fire and about to implode and I would still not touch you anywhere on your body."

"Your touching me now." He grinned.

"You're just a stuck up, snobby, jerk." I told him. "The world's criminals hide from you because they fear you might infect them with your disgusting germs." I felt his hands gradually slipping slower, but I kept going. "Why any girl in this room is attracted to you is beyond me. They must be blind, deaf, mentally retarded, or have the brain of an amoeba; which has no brain at all. Only the brainless are attracted to you!" His hands touch downed on my butt and I still kept going. "And you must be oh so incredibly unintelligent to think you can keep your hairy, disgusting ape hands planted on my ass like a weed in a garden." I decided to whip out my moves. I grabbed his hand and twisted so I was behind him, with his arm twisted. I grabbed his other arm and stretched it up as high as it would go, then I made sure to lift my knee so I could literally kick his ass to kingdom-come. "You are so stupid, Casper. I don't know why you keep trying. It was no last month, and it's a no this month, and guess what? It's going to be a no the month after too! Imagine that?"

My date came from out of the bathroom and grinned at me.

"So, maybe I've made a little indention into that dense rock you call a brain- I don't like you. I do not, nor will I ever in the near of far future, ever like you and want to have anything to do with you. This includes touching of any sort, talking, looking at, staring at, and even thinking about. I will know when you think about me, because I am freaking awesome and know when people think about me. You cannot dream about me either, because this counts as thinking as it happens deep inside your conscious. If you do any of this, I will know, and I will kick your butt so hard, you'll be able to know the brand of my shoe by the way it tastes when it pops back into your throat- do I make myself clear?"

Casper's face was twisted with pain but he managed to grunt some sort of response.

"I will pretend to hear what I wanted to hear, so I'm going to let you go now." I let him go and he popped back up and turned to look at me, he opened his mouth to say something to me, but I cut him off.

"You are in violation of the rules! Prepare to taste the amazing-ness that is Gucci!" I yelled. I pulled a leg back and kicked the air. He darted away like a rat that had been spotted. "That's right! Flee! Run away! Retreat like the pathetic little loser you are!" I called after him.

I found my date laughing besides me. I grabbed him and muttered in his ear, "You are in so much trouble…"

A week later, Paisley came to my place. She loved messing around in my room. She was humming the "Mission Impossible" song, and darting around in my room, trying to look suspicious. Every now and then, she'd fold her hands together to make a gun and then she'd make a sad effort to roll on the floor.

"Paise- what the hell are you doing?" I snickered after watching her struggle to roll over. She spit the hair out of her face.

"I'm being retarded, like I always am." She grinned at me.

"Of course you are, but the question is, why?"

"Z! Now I know my ABC's won't you come and sing with me!" She giggled. "I'm sorry; it's just that I'm hyper thinking about you and your two lover boys."

"Shush! Freak-cesca might hear you! Don't you think it's bad enough she hasn't got a man, but she's drooling over the two boys that drool over me!"

Paisley pretended to clutch her heart and she made choking noise. "It's the apocalypse! The girl is defending her psychotic sister! Lunacy must run in the family." She had to add the lunacy bit. Had to add it!

"I'm insane? My little brother doesn't come into my room at the crack of dawn screaming Buzz Light-year."

"Of course your little brother doesn't, because you don't have one, sweetie." She patted my knee as if I was stupid enough to forget I didn't have a little brother- or any brothers, just the freak.

"I know he doesn't, but yours does. Your little brother screams Buzz Light-Year at the crack of dawn."

"He's two years old! My god, give the boy a break!"

"I would have preferred staring at the poster of Taylor Lautner's _Rolling Stones_ photo shoot, but _noooo_, he just had to come in screaming."

"Do I look like I remote control my two year old brother?"

"That would be amazing." I stated. Then I wondered out loud, "Do you think we have any peanut butter in the kitchen. I. Want. Peanut. Butter. So. Bad."

Paisley raised an eyebrow, muttered "Random much?" before she held up her finger gun and started humming mission impossible again as she snuck out the door. I rolled my eyes and followed suit.

After we rolled into the kitchen, we dug out spoons and peanut butter.

"Do you care if I double dip?" I asked.

"Do you care if I do?" She asked before digging in.

"Mmm, no."

"Then neither do I." We dug it, clinked spoons, and then then swallowed peanut butter. We ate in silence for a minute before she muttered something.

"Ah hab ba quehso fwo oo abow da ma fiying obo oo." She said over a mouth full of peanut butter.

I looked at her with my spoon halfway to my mouth and stared at you. "What new language are you learning, Paisley?"

She closed her mouth, swallowed twice and grinned and said while laughing, "I have a question for you about the men fighting over you."

"Oh. What's the question?"

"Which one kisses better?" She grinned.

"Pervert." I said. She shrugged and tried to look modest. "I don't know. With one of them it's like the corny perfect kiss- angels, doves, fireworks, pristine beaches, blah, blah, blah. The other one it's like exploding."

"In a good or bad way?"

"It's a kiss, Paisley- definitely the good way."

"Oh… so, do I have your permission to scoop up the one you rip the heart out of, bury alive and dance on his grave?"

I swallowed some more peanut butter, pursed my lips and thought about before shrugging and saying simply, "Give it your best shot."

"Oh goodie." She said cheerfully.

* * *

**I love Paisley. I don't know if you guys do or not, and quite frankly, i don't care. Paisley is modelled after my best friend- yes, i have 2. Frenchie and the one Paisley is based off of. And Paisley's little bro is based off of my bestie's little bro who does come into her room screaming buzz light year at the crack of dawn- if you consider ten am the crack of dawn. I do. I've been to her house over the weekend, and and that poster- I know you fangirls out there have it- incident, actually happened. There i was, freshly awake and my first thought is, "Good morning, Mr. Poster, thank you for the image." when all of a sudden i hear, "BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ LIGHT-YEAR! BUZZ LIGHT-YEAR!" and the moment with me and the image on the poster is ruined by the screaming two year old. God i am so glad i'm the youngest... Anyways, fifteen reviews, and i promise i will start to work on chapter 17... hopefully... *innocent laughing* R&R peas and turkey (::)**


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